Educators see potential in virtual reality (VR) and
would like more access to it in their classrooms. A new survey from the networking software company Extreme Networks found that 23% of
responding schools said they had tested VR and more than half said they were
looking into using it.
The study reported that 52% of the schools that tried VR
technology used it for science classes, while 20% used it in engineering, and
29% in history. Google was the most popular brand in the survey, at 74%,
followed by Oculus (17%) and Samsung (14%).
One challenge for responding school administrators was
IT infrastructure. The report found that 32% said they could use VR, 31% said
they were “somewhat sure” they had the infrastructure, and 30% were sure they
couldn’t support the technology.
“The major benefit of virtual reality in the classroom
is that it engages students completely in the lesson,” Bob Nilsson, director of
vertical solutions marketing for Extreme Networks, wrote in a blog post about the survey. “It sparks creativity and brings difficult concepts to life.
The downside is there is not yet enough VR content and it is still perceived as
difficult to implement.”
