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SEQUEIRA: Virtual reality is on the cusp of a revolution

The technology has untold potential to transform our lives

A couple weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg posted a live video of Facebook’s newest initiative: Virtual Reality. In reality, the virtual reality initiative is actually rooted in Facebook’s recently acquired sister company, Oculus. The initiative put on by Oculus and Facebook is a phenomenal step toward making virtual reality a staple of education, something that desperately needs to be done in order to ensure education is progressing with the 21st century.

Facebook likely saw VR as a vehicle to permeate meaningful change through disciplines of medicine, politics, history and education. While virtual reality is deeply enshrouded in its early development, the mere potential it has to revolutionize education warrants greater development and implementation of its components.

Indeed, companies like Alchemy VR as well as software behemoths like Google are quickly allocating resources towards virtual reality, yet rarely have we seen full-scale implementation of virtual reality in schools or consistent mention of it in the media. For example, Google has developed a Pioneer Expedition kit which provides teachers with devices that students can use to explore bucolic wheat fields of Romania or the perilous terrain of Machu Picchu. Similarly, Alchemy VR has teamed up with several other software companies to create their trademarked narrative in which professors and universities can explain the mechanism behind glycolysis or the Big Bang not by words, but by a student physically witnessing the events taking place. These experiences educate viewers and open their eyes to destinations, concepts and dimensions not possible with the constraints of reality. And yet, education has not yet reaped the benefit of this technology.

Likewise, education in the medical sphere not only benefits from virtual reality as a teaching tool, but also may be utilized to save lives, according to Forbes. Using cricothyrotomy as their exemplar, Forbes illustrates the precision and meticulous nature of the incision a surgeon must make during such a surgery. With virtual reality or simulated medicine, the medical students can practice with an exact replica of a real-world operation so that when the time comes for reality, the virtual has prepared him or her exceedingly well. Additionally, Next Galaxy VR and Miami Children’s Hospital are in collaboration to develop virtual reality CPR for phones and tablets to disseminate CPR information and provide unparalleled practice for everyday individuals. Therefore, when the time comes for an 11th hour medical intervention, each and every bystander could be able to perform CPR successfully and save a life.

A discipline as innocuous and seemingly diffident from virtual reality like journalism has found itself enveloped by it. In fact, The New York Times has been able to take individuals on a pilgrimage to Mecca and to the top of the World Trade Center, exposing these fortuitous viewers with the virtually real opportunity to experience the world from the comfort of their homes. These destinations and experiences would not likely have been encountered by those individuals without the virtual reality platform. Furthermore, it allows journalism to adopt a chassis that is much more interactive with and educational for its audience, developing a more intimate connection.

There will always be opposition to virtual reality especially from those who believe virtual reality eliminates physical social interaction altogether and those who recognize that virtual reality requires funding we simply do not have. To assuage the conscience of the first type of naysayer, virtual reality provides more social interaction than exists through SMS messaging, FB messenger, Google hangouts and so on. As Zuckerberg demonstrated, virtual reality consists of avatars with real facial expressions, gestures and idiosyncrasies that their “real” selves would typically exercise. For the latter set of naysayers, the 2016 Budget Factsheet allocates $145 billion in new mandatory spending to support early learning, teachers and postsecondary reform. To be blunt, we have the funding. Of course, $145 billion will never be entirely channeled into the virtual reality realm, but greater research, development and practice of virtual reality marks an important incremental step towards making it a reality for students.

Virtual reality is advantageous to implement and, though it is not immune to flaws, it is well worth our while to invest in it for our posterity. Even other countries, especially those classified as developing, could afford their children an unparalleled opportunity to experience the world at a fraction of the cost of normally doing so. It is high time we exploit virtual reality for its seemingly unending potential in various disciplines and embrace its capabilities to challenge the bounds of technology, science, journalism, medicine and education.

Sean Sequeira is a Viewpoint writer.

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