EdTech Times and SRI International Release Report on Use of xR in Education Today

BOSTON - Nov. 12, 2018 - PRLog -- This fall, 115 K12 teachers and college faculty completed a survey, answering questions about their use of virtual, augmented and mixed reality in teaching and learning. The survey is a collaborative research effort between EdTech Times and SRI International and is called the 2018 xR in EDU Survey. The study was authored by EdTech Times CEO Hester Tinti-Kane and Phil Vahey, Director of Strategic Research and Innovation at SRI International. The Labster and Lifeliqe organizations were key partners in this work—both organizations provide educators with xR experiences for teaching and learning. Maaroof Fakhri, Evangelist and Director for Labster, and Martin Bukáček, Audience Engagement Director at Lifeliqe, provided important feedback on the survey.

The research design began in the fall of 2017 with one primary research question—what does adoption of augmented (AR), virtual (VR) and mixed reality (MR) in education look like? (Please note that collectively, the abbreviation for all of these technologies is referred to as "xR"). Additionally, the researchers were looking to understand what experiences these technologies could uniquely provide to learners. In order to discover as much as possible about implementation of these technologies, the team developed a sample that had a good percentage of "initiated" members who were practitioners at some level. Labster and Lifeliqe provided access to their user communities and these people made up the majority of the survey sample.

Slides of the survey's key findings were shared and the executive summary of the 2018 xR in EDU Survey was distributed at the annual xR in EDU conference. EdTech Times and Boston University joined together to co-host xR in EDU, an event to explore augmented and virtual realities' impact on learning across the full spectrum of education. The event included almost 200 attendees from over 100 different organizations and took place at Boston University on October 22, 2018.

"This executive summary explains what we learned in this first attempt at what we plan to be a global, longitudinal study on the adoption of augmented, virtual and mixed reality in education and training," said Hester Tinti-Kane, survey co-author and CEO of EdTech Times. The 2018 survey sample was indeed global, with 42% coming from the United States and the remaining sample widespread globally across 37 countries, with the most non-US educators coming from Canada, Australia and India, in that order.

In terms of years teaching, the majority of the sample (92%) had more than 3 years of experience and 23% of the respondents had over 20 years of experience. When asked what grade range they taught, 44% of the sample reported that they taught higher education, 36% reported that they taught K12, and the remainder fell into other categories. Science, followed by Technology/Computer Science were the subjects most commonly taught by the survey sample. Of the 115 who completed the survey, 71% said they would be interested in using xR with their students. 108 of respondents had experience using xR and 56 had used it in the classroom. Of the three different types of xR, virtual reality was the one used most in classrooms and mixed reality was the one used the least. When asked how they felt xR impacted their students, the majority of respondents who had used these technologies in their classrooms (91%) said that xR had a medium to large positive impact. Survey respondents described the best uses for xR in open ended responses where common phrases were seen. They expressed that xR was valuable for visual learning, for helping students take control of their own learning, it provides a safe practice space for real life learning and allows students to virtually experience places and phenomena beyond the classroom. To read the full findings of the study, please visit: https://edtechtimes.com/xr-research

EdTech Times is a digital media and consulting company facilitating communication and partnerships at the intersection of education, technology, innovation, and work. With media, events, consulting, and research, we're supporting people improving the world through education. Follow @edtechtimes on Twitter.

SRI International is an independent, nonprofit research center that works with clients to take the most advanced R&D from the laboratory to the marketplace. Serving government and industry, they collaborate across technical and scientific disciplines. For more than 70 years, they've led the discovery and design of ground-breaking products, technologies, and industries. Follow @SRI_intl or @SRI_Education on Twitter.

Labster is an award-winning company that focuses on empowering the next generation of scientists with engaging lab simulations. Their platform offers a Virtual Laboratory where students can work with real-life challenges in an online environment that simulates reality. Follow @labster on Twitter.

Lifeliqe is a platform that makes it exciting to learn and teach science with interactive 3D models, as well as AR, VR, & MR. Offering the first K-12 science curricula for schools enhanced with interactive 3D models, Lifeliqe has over 1,300 models and over 700 lesson plans for STEM. Follow @Lifeliqe on Twitter.