Sahiba Sadana from VRXOne in conjunction with The Winchester School — Jebel Ali discusses how educators can deploy the best learning practices, predominantly with the help of AI, to ensure every child gets an excellent education.
Year on year, teachers prepare to do great things for a new academic year by getting acquainted with and understanding the diverse natures of new students they will spend the whole year guiding and supporting. The responsibility of a teacher at this time is so crucial that their revolutionary strategies can change the outlook of a student towards education, their environment, and sometimes even their life. This year The Winchester School — Jebel Ali (WIN) decided to up their level of productive learning using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR), by teaming up with VRXOne, a comprehensive learning programme for education and training.
Many schools that realise the importance of new methodologies to make the transition to a new class smoother. Through this, students faced with a change in environment feel welcome and find the new curriculum easier to understand.
Across more than 50 GEMS Education schools, thousands of educators from around world are deploying best learning practices to ensure every child receives an excellent education with uplifting values. The challenge faced by not just GEMS schools but every school lies providing personalised and engaging learning.
WIN is always keen to incorporate new best practices, which is in keeping with the school’s reputation of being preeminent in adopting the latest innovative and effective education technologies to the advantage of students and the empowerment of teachers.
INTRODUCING AI INTO THE CLASSROOM
The leadership of the school is determined to bring top-quality facilities to its students. They believe in making the integration of cutting-edge technologies standard practice in every classroom throughout the school.
“The student experience is the biggest testament to a school’s commitment to providing holistic learning. The use of technologies like VR is aligned with the concept of experiential learning in pedagogy. Such technologies encourage inquisitiveness, innovation, and excellence, and ultimately lead to bigger impact through nation development,” says Dr. Ritika Anand, Vice- Principal at WIN.
Baljinder Kaur, the school’s Head of Department of Secondary Science, who is also an experienced Chemistry teacher, coordinated the VR experience in her AS Level Chemistry class. Students experienced advanced educational standards as they attended special Virtual Reality Chemistry classes facilitated by MEL Science and VRXOne. Baljinder said: “The students walked out of the session in awe. They made meaningful observations during their expedition and were very keen to discuss them and they were amazed by virtually experiencing the concepts they had learnt in their previous sessions. It has greatly increased their curiosity and interest in the subject.”
With hands-on practical tools to tremendously boost the student engagement levels and enhance their knowledge retention, the Immersive Learning programme gives students complete autonomy to choose their lessons and customise them as per their interests. At the same time, it empowers teachers by giving them full control over what each student learns, decided as per their learning objectives and areas of improvement.
Bringing augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence to the mainstream in education, VRXOne is the Expeditions Google Partner in the Middle East. The programme uses a nearrealistic 3D environment and motion-captured based physical interactivity to facilitate unparalleled curriculum delivery. The ‘Go-to-School’ programme by VRXOne has been a great hit, bringing a renaissance in the learning ecosystem in the Middle East. The programme has created awareness about EdTech and immersive technologies by delivering one million expeditions in the region.
WHAT ARE IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES?
According to a Gallup report, most teens between the ages of 13 and 17 associate going to school with adjectives such as ‘bored’ and ‘tired’. When such is the scenario, educators tend to look towards classroom techniques where learning happens effortlessly.
Along with pedagogical techniques, classroom technologies like the ones brought by VRXOne comprise virtual reality and artificial intelligence. These mixed reality and AI-themed lessons hold the students’ attention and produce an exciting course curriculum, while building their fascination for technology, a sector responsible for the creation of a large number jobs today, and even more in the near future.
Addressing the challenge of making students feel more captivated and immersed in school rather than tired and bored, the VRXOne second generation kits enhance immersion and bring lessons that are fun and exciting, yet also challenging and thorough lessons. These lessons are from Google Expeditions along with special intuitive science sessions by Mel Science.
THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION
The word ‘school’ can draw different emotions for different students. However, when schools like WIN and GEMS Education take commendable steps to engage students, it keeps learners hopeful. This collaboration is fundamental to the changes taking place in the Middle East economy. It is a contribution to making the future generation more empowered. It also sets an unprecedented model to follow other schools. Using VRXOne, they can resolve the predicaments of classroom boundaries and surprise learners.
Technologies like Mixed Reality and Artificial Intelligence are here to stay. By harnessing their power, GEMS schools have joined the ranks of truly futuristic schools dedicated to student development.