Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated our reliance on – and investment in – distance learning. Overnight, teachers around the world pivoted to an online learning modality with millions of learners finding themselves staring at computer screens from the comfort of their own homes. The pandemic showed both the potential for distance learning but also the limitations. Too often the experience for learners – particularly in terms of presence within the online learning environment – lacked engagement and immersion, thereby diminishing the motivation of learners to play an active role in their learning. And teachers found themselves lost in a multitude of online tools ending up using the basic ones.

At the same time the emergence of commercially-available augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology offers an exciting opportunity to change the game for distance learning, increasing social and tele-presence and potentially improving student engagement and motivation. However, there are multiple technical, institutional and pedagogical challenges on the way of technology adoption. The CloudClass project – funded by the European Commission through the Eurostars funding mechanism – seeks to take an AR/VR technology from the broadcast sector and implement it within the education sector, evaluating the impact on learners and exploring the potential that this technology has to create transformative learning experiences.

In this paper, we explain how the CloudClass solution is taking technology developed for and with the broadcast sector and repurposing it for the education market. We explore some of the lessons emerging from the CloudClass project in terms of the use of this technology as a tool for educational content creation. We seek to understand the possible application domains for the technology. We look at how the technology has the potential to increase learner interest and engagement in online learning content. And we explore some of the barriers to uptake and use.

The CloudClass project is currently ongoing with a full evaluation of the technology not yet completed. This paper offers an interim view of the promise that this technology offers and provides insights for others looking to innovate within this highly complex, dynamic ed-tech sub-sector. We hope to report results of the evaluation in future forums.

Keywords:

Virtual reality, augmented reality, online learning, course creation.