It should be fairly non-controversial to say that VR is, and should be, a part of education in many countries of the world, with all other regions quickly catching up. The benefits of VR in education are espoused all across the Veative site, and in anything related to, or written by, Veative. Yes, we are believers, practitioners and primary movers in the field of immersive learning. But, just as importantly, we are realists.

Globally, 99% of schools and districts have limited budgets and an inability to buy based on hype or trends. If something has a measurable impact on learning outcomes, money can be found in most cases. But efficacy and practicality matters. 

On this page, we will explore some of what people are talking about and what the future of VR in education will be. As a company, we believe that the future of virtual reality is the metaverse; haptic suits, gloves, AI, eye tracking, and so on. We have set up our offering to be prepared with these things in mind. However, content will always be the driver as we crawl-walk-run into immersive learning. In addition to content, the other determining factors will be security and privacy, and efficacy.

The Metaverse

• New worlds to explore (fantastic!)
• Content will still be king
• Always online, high bandwidth needs
• A part of your educational offering

What about an expanded content offering?

From Day 1, Veative has been about content, whether that is created internally, or by others. We cannot possibly fill every silo of content need on our own. There are companies out there doing great work, and we are working with them. Here is a brief roadmap of where we are going:

• Add a VR editor for student and teacher creation of content. Users can use Veative as a model or example of how 360° content should look, then “do it better” on your own.
• Collaborative/metaverse offering, for groups to gather
• Soft skills, such as presentation and empathy training
• Add more vocational modules
• Add other subjects and content areas

An important consideration when expanding content is to consider how it will be managed and distributed. Will I need separate accounts? What will be on which headset? What happens when things need to be updated? 

The easiest way for a company to manage these pieces of content is to place everything online and have updates pushed to headsets. Remember, VR content is not small or light and it will take a high-speed, very reliable internet connection to make this work. Stop for a second and think… will this happen with 20-50 headsets, across the school, 5 minutes before class?! 

What is easiest for companies is not practical, feasible and easy for schools. This is why a managed, offline solution is of utmost importance when considering more and more content. Once again, a solution which is designed by teachers and not technicians affords Veative a unique position to help your school along its journey. We will always be here to help.

Independent voices

Sometimes, it is important to lean upon those who are critical thinkers in this field and follow some of what they have to say. We will highlight some of these folks, who are not a part of Veative in any way, but who have important thoughts on the future of immersive learning. 

One such person we would recommend listening to is Learning Futurist, Eric Hawkinson, from the University of Foreign Studies in Kyoto, Japan. Eric has written and spoken extensively on all things XR, from privacy to just about everything else. This is a good place to start.