Learning trends 2017: All hail the… VR?

‘All hail the kale’ was a big craze on the health food scene a year or so ago. Incidentally, that was the first thing that I thought of when I saw all the VR/AR banners at the Learning Technologies 2017 show a few weeks back.

Virtual Reality seems to have finally arrived and as learning designers we’re tempted to buy into its promise of effortless learner engagement and, let’s be honest, an opportunity to play around with the gadgets ourselves!

I don’t want to be one of those people to go against the grain, but frankly kale tastes like grass (and that’s only if it’s cooked well). I’m not a natural sceptic and I love technology. I got my hands on a headset the other day and I have to admit that virtual, and even more so augmented and mixed reality, is a fantastic way to bring immersive, hands-on learning to professions we have been having a hard time converting to digital learning. Medical students, firefighters and all sorts of technicians being some of these.