USP College – incorporating the Seevic Campus in Benfleet, Palmer’s Campus in Grays and the XTEND Digital Campus on Canvey – is leading the way with education in the virtual world.
The college is heading up a UK-wide virtual reality (VR) campus project, enabling practitioners to access a digital bank of resources to support students in their studies regardless of where they are based.
USP College is one of 30 colleges testing digital technology as a means of enhancing learning. The aim is to have a VR environment with features unique to the platform to enhance the student experience and make out-of-reach learning accessible.
The college had already utilised the concept of an immersive Classroom to give all students attending the college’s various campuses access to the same quality of education. The move enabled the college to continue to offer areas of the curriculum which may otherwise have been dropped due to lower numbers in individual campuses.
Off the back of the success of the immersive room, the focus turned to virtual reality. Work began on promoting the idea in November 2022, with development and consultation continuing throughout 2023.
The introduction of VR campus has the potential to greatly enhance the learning experience for students. VR technology allows for the creation of immersive assets and environments that provide students with interactive and engaging ways to learn.
Studies show students retain information at rates of up to 90% when using VR for learning, compared to only 20% retention through traditional lecturing.
VR enables access to otherwise out-of-reach content, including historical or geographical sites relevant to their studies, without the need for physical travel.
Implementing this technology can boost student achievement, increase access and flexibility, and prepare students for future careers.
On initial research, VR applications offering purposeful educational content and longevity were limited in the further education sector and focused more prominently on primaries with a gaming focus.
We begun to envisage and identify the gaps that existed, and that is where the idea of the VR campus came from.
Delivering immersive and interactive content - designed by further education for further education - through a virtual reality environment enables us to deliver a curriculum that would otherwise be financially out of reach.
Dan Pearson is due to present this week, March 13, at DigiFest 2024 at Birmingham ICC, along with Andy Martin, XTEND Digital Company Manager.
As an educator, it’s been a rewarding experience to contribute to a project that not only shapes the future of education, but also holds significance for both students and teachers.
The generated content is exceptional and effectively integrates various aspects of learning into lessons. It has been great creating content, especially for maths skills that resonate across diverse subjects, aiding students in enhancing their mathematical understanding and applying it in real-world scenarios.
Colleges who form part of the project are looking to launch in the coming months of 2024.
