Over the past few years, AR and VR technologies have matured significantly. Since 2017, we’ve been able to see significant growth in the adoption of AR and VR across different industries.
In 2019, the number of people using AR has increased by 9.1 million and has almost reached 70 million, while VR was already used by 42.9 million people in 2019.
The Demand for Education in VR and AR
As AR and VR are slowly taking over many industries, including retail, agriculture, customer service, engineering, and education, there is a growing need in platforms that can take the lead and create resources to educate big companies as well as entrepreneurs about AR and VR technologies.
Today, we have three major players on the market that do an incredible job working on education in VR and AR.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at them.
1. Expeditions Pioneer Program by Google
Education is one of the biggest industries interested in adopting AR and VR. However, there are still many obstacles that don’t let education fully adopt these technologies, from the lack of funding to the lack of knowledge.
Google helps tackle the latter with its Expeditions Pioneer Program. The purpose of the program is to help teachers around the world make their classrooms more interactive with the help of AR and VR.
Below is a sneak peek of Google’s experiment at Andersen Middle School, where they pioneered their program.
A part of this program is the Google team going to schools to educate teachers and staff about how VR and AR technologies can be applied in the classroom. Teachers and staff learn how to use Google’s Expeditions app and ARCore (for Android) or ARKit (for iOS).
Google partnered with National Geographic, American Museum of Natural History, and Guggenheim gallery to create content for the Expeditions app in the form of AR and VR-powered unique experiences, and present new opportunities for educators.
2. ARVR Academy
What about a more inclusive option for education in AR and VR?
AR VR Academy is an association of professionals working in this industry and helping companies and entrepreneurs adopt these technologies. Their curriculum offers:
- Mentor groups – guidance from professionals that work in a number of related spheres;
- Conferences – events for the students to meet other professionals in the industry and participate in workshops;
- Check-out program – students get access to loaner devices to develop and test AR and VR applications.
Right now, AR VR Academy offers 4 basic introductory courses:
- Terms & Software – foundations of what defines immersive technologies;
- Mobile VR – practical application of immersive technology skills using Google VR SDK;
- Vuforia AR in Unity – an introductory course for the students to create marker AR applications in Unity;
- Hololens Basics – a set of courses that teach how to use and build for the Microsoft Hololens.
AR VR Academy has an open-sourced curriculum for its students. Their goal is to help anyone learn about these technologies, regardless of their prior experience.
3. ARVR Women
One of the most inspiring and innovative AR and VR communities is AR VR Women – the platform that unites women from the immersive technology industry. Their goal is to unite women from the industry at educational events and push the initiatives for making the immersive technology industry more inclusive.
One of their initiatives is to facilitate investments in AR and VR ventures led by female CEOs. According to the 2017 report by WXR Venture Fund, mentioned on the community’s website, out of $1.9 billion investments in AR and VR startups, only 7.7% were invested in startups led by women.
Thus, the community created resources that empower women working with these technologies. Nathalie Mathé, the founder of AR VR Women, regularly holds Breakfast Fight Club events, where she and her colleagues share 25 years of experience working with immersive technologies.
Apart from that, members of AR VR Women can attend different conferences and participate in workshops, regularly organized by the community.
Recognizing the Need for More AR and VR Educational Resources
Since the popularity of immersive technologies keeps growing, there is also a growing need in companies and platforms that provide educational resources for those who want to learn more about AR, VR and their applications.
Many industries have already adopted immersive technologies, and are currently in need of the professionals who will facilitate these technologies and create more AR and VR opportunities for these industries.
With the support of the platforms like Google, AR VR Academy, and AR VR Women, companies and entrepreneurs around the world get access to educational resources and help in learning more about AR and VR.
By creating open-source curriculums and organizing events, these platforms ensure immersive educational experience and an opportunity to learn about AR and VR regardless of your previous experience with immersive technologies.
Guest PostAbout the Guest Author(s)
Kristin Savage
Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Now she works as a freelance writer at Studicus.
