Immersive Methods of Learning in K-12
- Marco Vargas
- Oct 17, 2024
- 4 min read
Published October 18, 2024 at the inaugural Meta's Educators Community Summit in Palo Alto, CA.
Regarding the Path to Wider Scale Metaverse Adoption
Below are some remarks from Marco Vargas, CEO of Fifth Sun Pictures and Director of Partnership at Exponential Destiny.
XR technologies and AI in K-12 schools are very much going through an adoption cycle similar to cellphones, iPads, and chromebook computers.
Even today not all students across the U.S. or the world have access to a computer or let alone the internet (United Nations "Addressing the Digital Divide").
In our view at Exponential Destiny, the affiliated education research nonprofit partner of Fifth Sun Pictures, school and education leaders have the opportunity to bridge existing inequities like poor learning and career outcomes by helping leap frog their students and families into emerging technology sectors.
As a first generation American from a low-income background, I remember growing up as computers entered our daily lives. I was a student at Carver Middle School when the first computer was introduced into my household. This was possible through a technology access program by LAUSD where computers were donated to students with pre-loaded educational software.
Prior to this program, my family and I only had access to computers at the library or at the laundromat outside of my elementary school where for $1 my sister and I could watch as many YouTube videos as we wanted for 30 minutes. At home, I remember listening to the song “In the Jungle the Mighty Jungle". At school, I remember the excitement of my classmates and I playing coolmathgames.com.
In any case, the LAUSD computer technology access program is how I learned to type, surf the internet, and explored early hobbies like writing.
And for the most of my K-12 experience, computer labs and computer carts is what ensured I developed valuable PowerPoint, online research, and digital literacy skills.
Today we are faced with the challenge of going through another cycle of technology innovation which requires practical implementation training, hardware access for students and families, and innovative educational leaders.
See the 8 category focus areas to implement XR technology in K-12 schools:
Hardware and software data & security compliance with curriculum alignment to Next Generation Science Standards and/or CA CTE standards.
Community and event activations with K-12 youth and parent audience.
Early college and career exposure at the middle school level with XR technologies as learning tools.
Professional development for high school teachers and alignment to Next Generation Science Standards and/or CA CTE standards.
Hardware management and basic training/ awareness with students.
Cost effective virtual curriculum development and/or access.
Strategic planning including risk mitigation, program evaluation, and ongoing application of relevant industry insights.
Equitable access to XR hardware and software for students and their families.
One-to-one XR hardware and software is not a requirement today, but it will be soon. We will know when its time to make the technology shift as software and hardware cost will be a no brainer in comparison to indisputable and scalable student learning outcomes like Math and English proficiency.
To be clear there’s already evidence that XR technologies like virtually reality improve the student learning outcomes and the school experience, however most implementation projects are isolated among one classroom or school department (PricewaterHouseCoopers, Education Reimagined, and Natural Library of Medicine).
If there’s one thing you take away from this lightning chat is to take a grassroots approach and meet students, parents, teachers, and education leaders where they are at. There’s lots of competing priorities in the education sector, especially K-12. In K-12, schools try their best to set up students for the real world which may mean preparation for a good college or a sustainable career path. And if you’re in a low-income or disadvantaged household like I was growing up, both students and parents need ongoing empowerment through education.
So answer the call to build the future of education with a rigorous passion for uplifting the most vulnerable and solving the hardest problems that we have today.
Please visit our affiliated nonprofit website ExponentialDestiny.org to learn more about our research.
If you’re interested in expanding XR technologies or AI in the K-12 space, feel free to contact our Fifth Sun Pictures consulting team at info@fifthsunpictures.com.
Continue reading...
Introducing Exponential Destiny, the affiliated nonprofit partner of Fifth Sun Pictures.
Many of you know me as Marco the CEO of Fifth Sun Pictures, but did you also know that I am the proud Co-founder and Director of Partnerships at Exponential Destiny?
Exponential Destiny is a 501(c)3 education research nonprofit with a mission to upskill and reskill underserved young and adult learners into emerging technology sector jobs.
In our research exploring XR technologies and pioneering the metaverse, we have created a framework for immersive methods of learning.
Our framework focuses on 4 areas that help teachers implement virtual reality technology in the classroom:
In virtual reality, students can express themselves with digital objects. Creative Learning Assignment: Teachers can assign a learning subject for students to learn via experimentation.
Prepared Lesson Plan: Teacher can use platforms like YouTube 360, EngageVR.io, and an increasing amount free or affordable virtual reality content to facilitate lessons plans that align with their classroom units or state standards.
Social Emotional Learning: Teachers can practice mindfulness with students through imaginative virtual experiences helping students develop skills like public speaking, empathy, and self-awareness.
Organic Discovery: Teachers, particularly teachers with more practice and advanced skills in virtual reality, can facilitate impromptu learning experiences bringing in digital objects and teleporting their students to virtual environments to unlock deeper learning.
Other notable mentions include building empathy and awareness for social causes like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals or teaching students about social change makers in their community like the Human Atlas Metaverse Project.
The potential of the metaverse is just at our fingertips. There is still a lot of progress to be made with training teachers to leverage XR technologies and AI as a learning tool in the classroom.
Our approach at Exponential Destiny excites me because we can remove barriers for students and teachers by donating hardware to schools (made possible by the philanthropic support of companies like Meta Platforms), facilitating professional development programs, and launching technology centers (See our most recent Immersive VR Lab with Level Up Philly).
