Exploring XR Technologies & Their Varied Applications

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Exploring Emerging Technologies – XR (Extended Reality) Technology

For this week’s blog entry, we are looking at an emerging technology that is becoming a more prevalent component in the modern social space: Extended Reality. The two most common technologies are augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Whereas AR overlays physical objects and places with virtual content, VR is typically a more immersive experience, involving manipulations of and interactions with virtual objects within an entirely virtual environment (Educause, 2020).

The combination of mixed reality technologies has now given organizations, students, and individuals the opportunity to not only learn but experience their education through accessible and non-traditional means. Learners now have the benefit of using XR technology to gain knowledge and experience through digital simulation. The applications of using this technology are endless and therefore offer varied and currently unknown uses that are only limited by what is created for virtual exploration.

 

Using Ed Tech to Address Changes in Extended Reality

A key component of addressing the implementation of this burgeoning technology is how best to educate organizations and their workforce on capitalizing extended reality technologies for their benefit. While a bulk of VR technology is predicated on relatively expensive headsets and devices, AR technology readily takes advantage of the smartphones a vast majority of us already use. It is this gateway towards adoption of newer technology that allows organizations to better educate and train based on their preferred technological applications. More importantly, it takes away unnecessary barriers to informing groups and individuals about the advantages of new technological integration. Adoption has also been speeded up by the fact that – unlike virtual reality (VR), which requires expensive headsets because of its immersive nature – AR-based applications can be accessed via smartphones and tablets, (Everett, 2021).

 

The Importance of Extended Reality in The Future

Extended Reality technology is important in many ways. With reference to its current state and how it has gained greater traction of use in our post-pandemic world, XR tech acts as not only a simulation for resources and information, but as a viable alternative to real-world interaction. Moving forward, this technology has the capability to transform how we interact and learn with each other outside of the traditional setup of classrooms, offices, and face-to-face instruction. Parsons et al. (2020) elaborates further on the potential benefits of this technology as it relates to the clinical field:

Extended reality environments (e.g., virtual reality) offer methodologies for presenting high dimensional simulations of everyday activities. Herein, we discuss the promise of extended reality platforms for presenting high-dimensional and dynamic stimuli that can be used for assessment and training of social, cognitive, and affective aspects of real-world activities in both healthy and clinical populations.

However, just as we discussed in our previous blog post, I can see the integration of this technology being difficult to implement for many of the same reasons such as monetary issues and lack of training. But while those concerns are valid, I also see Extended Reality technology being more readily adopted in our ever-changing society due to the vast possibilities they provide.

Reference List

Educause. (2020). 2020 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report™ | Teaching and Learning Edition. https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2020/3/2020_horizon_report_pdf.pdf?la=en&hash=08A92C17998E8113BCB15DCA7BA1F467F303BA80

Everett, C. (2021). EXTENDED REALITY SOFTWARE GETS PANDEMIC LIFT: Extended reality software is not new, but the Covid-19 health crisis has seen it take on a new lease of life as organizations face up to virtuality. Computer Weekly, 15–20.

Parsons, T. D., Gaggioli, A., & Riva, G. (2020). Extended Reality for the Clinical, Affective, and Social Neurosciences. Brain Sciences, 10(922), 922. https://doi-org.wmlsrsu.idm.oclc.org/10.3390/brainsci10120922

Comments

  1. J-RayMarch 3, 2021 at 9:48 AM

    Training is a real issue here, especially in the era of COVID. Also, equity issues seem to exist with this area. Do you feel HSI universities have been fully supported here to provide this sort of experience to our students? It seems that professionals may have access when attending conferences but there has been a delay in higher ed with adapting to this type of training.

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