In recent years the training field has undergone an immersive revolution thanks to the introduction of new teaching tools based on mixed, augmented and virtual reality that have made it possible to optimize the way of interacting with the environment.
This technology has been able to positively "alter" the way of teaching for many companies or centers, by enabling users to simulate real situations without generating any effort or risk associated with generating scenarios completely remotely.
As Thomas P. Caudell, the scientist and researcher who coined the term augmented reality in 1992, said while developing the Boeing 747 aircraft, what would happen if technicians had access to a screen that could guide them during installation?
Specifically, virtual, mixed or augmented reality are currently one of the most promising fields of development, thanks to their unlimited capacity for application in the educational field. Therefore, let's first see how each of them differs.
What is Virtual Reality?
Virtual reality is a technology that allows us to transform our real environment into a completely artificial one, generated digitally as we can find in many video games. Through the use of glasses or helmets, we can access this new purely virtual world, allowing us to be transported to another dimension, and enjoy other experiences without leaving our room.
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality goes one step further and is a technology that allows us to intercalate the real world with the digital world. If we remember the Pok茅mon Go phenomenon, users could recognize digital objects in real environments through their mobile devices, being able to catch their Pok茅mon anywhere in their city instead of having to physically stay in the same place.
What is Mixed Reality?
Unlike the other two,mixed reality is able to merge real environments with 3D and holographic elements to offer a much more immersive experience to the user. Allowing to interact with these digital objects in physical environments, without them disappearing when merged with other real elements as it happens with augmented reality.
In this way, we can take advantage of all the benefits of AR and VR to apply them to the most everyday scenarios or, as we want to emphasize in this post for the field of education.
The benefits offered by mixed reality in the training field are:
1. Generate immersive experiences
2. Represent other cultures, ideas or developments remotely.
3. Interacting with the environment
4. Increase security and reduce risks compared to physical environments.
5. Reduce the rate of operational errors in execution.
6. Cost savings associated with practicing in real environments.
7. Connectivity with other tools and solutions
Mixed Reality: Microsoft HoloLens as a training tool
More and more organizations are betting on introducing HoloLens mixed reality glasses in the educational sector, its practical application in real environments allows the user to enter an operating room or even learn first-hand the process of repairing an aircraft engine.
In fact, the eye tracking and hand tracking technology available in HoloLens 2, is able to detect both eye and hand tracking of the user without the need to hold any controller while interacting with their environment or performing a precise activity.
Future or present? Mixed reality using HoloLens is already being increasingly introduced in many medical centers, as in the case of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where scores 50% higher than the rest of the students were detected after using HoloLens as a learning tool, thus increasing student involvement.
It is clear that working with virtual objects will allow users to explore different angles, perspectives and solutions that would not have been possible in any other way.
Other examples of Mixed Reality or Augmented Reality in education:
- Study of the universe: Imagine being able to explore the universe in a much more didactic way and this is what the SkyView application achieves thanks to the use of augmented reality overlays on the night sky, in this way the user can discover stars, constellations or planets using only their mobile device.
- Medicine: Microsoft's mixed reality solutions for the healthcare field have allowed thousands of medical students to learn in depth about the human body thanks to HoloLens glasses, with which they can explore the anatomy, learn treatments for different conditions, and even analyze the bloodstreams. Incredible right?
If you want to know in depth what other applications mixed reality can offer for your organization and how we can develop training plans based on Microsoft HoloLens, do not hesitate to contact us. Our team of experts will be happy to assist you.