Dissertation:
To what extent is the growth of immersive design beneficial in educational settings?
Project Overview:
I have decided to base my dissertation on emerging immersive technologies, including Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). This is because there has been a significant growth in these markets in recent years, therefore I see is as essential to gain a greater understanding of its uses and impacts. Furthermore, researching these technologies may benefit me in future workplace settings, by providing myself with an advantage over those who may not know as much about VR and AR, and therefore potentially helping me to secure work roles. I did not know much about AR and VR prior to this project, however I gained an initial interest in my second year at university, where I learnt how to develop basic AR content using Spark AR. As technology and the internet continues to develop, there will be a need to find ways of keeping users engaged, where they are exposed to increasing amounts of content and their attention spans are becoming shorter. AR and VR therefore can achieve this, particularly from an advetising perspective.
Generating Ideas:
I found it difficult to come up with my dissertation idea. In particular, I struggled to find a topic that I would be able to discuss and research for a long period of time. I knew that I wanted to base my dissertation around immersive design, however it took me a long time to refine this down to how it is used for educational purposes. In my initial research stages, I looked into different indutries where immersive technology is being used. In particular, I researched applications of VR and AR in the healthcare, education, and gaming industries. I also researched specific projects involving immersive technology which have been successful (e.g. Pokemon Go), as well as less successful ones (e.g. Google Glass). I eventually refined my research to the education sector as I found it interesting how AR and VR can be used differently depending on the area of education (e.g. schools or workplace training), as well as how this may contribute to learning theory.
Secondary Research:
The secondary research was extremely time consuming. I gathered a lot of my research using academic databases such as Google Scholar and the universities library database. I found that since immersive technology is a fairly recent trend therefore there werent many relevent academic sources linking it with the education sector. I therefore also used online blogs written by those in the industry. I found these sources particularly useful as they were very up to date, and reflected the rapidly evolving industry. Where non acadmic sources were used, I had to ensure that I looked into them carefully, to identify whether the intentions were credible. This is because websites often serve a purpose such as to persuade, inform or to sell something. I had to consider whether this was the case as it may have affected the validity of the sources. Secondary research allowed me to gain an insight into the immersive technology industry and has provided a background, to support my primary research in the future. My research suggested that immersive technology can be beneficial in educational settings for reasons such as increasing engagement and making certain situations more accessible. There are however potential implications which need to be considered, such as psycological and physical effects including cybersickness. Using VR and AR for education is still a fairly recent development, therefore is likely to improve in the future as technology becomes more advanced.
Research Report:
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Primary Research:
For the primary research, I conducted two questionnaires, which were produced using Google Forms and distributed online. Questionnaire A was shared on social media and was targeted at a more mainstream group. The purpose of this questionnaire was to gather peoples opinions and previosu experiences of VR and AR. Questionnaire B was aimed specifically at teachers and was shared using a gatekeeper, who had access to this group. The purpose of this questionnaire was to identify whether teachers would find AR and VR beneficial. The primary research therefore allowed me to gather data on both sides of education- those who are teaching and those who are learning. The results showed a positive response to immersive technology, however it was concluded that it would be most beneficial to be used alongside traditional teaching methods, rather than replacing them completely.