Immersive learning: Making concepts approachable & fun

In today's digital era of smart learning and all-round development, it is important to figure out which technique of education would suit our children and students best. Gone are the days when rote learning would help students earn the highest grades and catapult them to where they wish to go. Education today aims more towards the students' holistic growth and development, ensuring that they are properly equipped for the real world and its challenges. Rote learning still exists to some degrees, but the paradigm is expected to see a complete shift soon.

Smart and digital learning has also led to the onset of immersive education. Seeing the drawbacks of the traditional learning system, educators across the globe have started using new innovative forms of content as well as multiple media formats, creating and curating new content for students.

A lot of the content is tailor-made especially for the students, keeping their subjects and their capabilities in mind.

Along with the content, students are also handed assignments and projects which involve a lot of effort in the field as well.

This way, the students implement the knowledge received from their books and they also learn about the real-life implications of what they have learned. Students are not encouraged to copy off another's work, ensuring that each student's learning process has a certain degree of individuality.

Introducing immersive learning is now crucial to a student's educational journey. Bringing it on board at the earliest level helps students adapt themselves to the system, since earlier years create better impressions and also imply simpler subjects.

A good pre-school always encourages and practices immersive learning in students, holding their hand until they grow and enter kindergarten.

Almost every reputed institution practices immersive learning, as it is guaranteed to bring out the best results. Students also find these techniques more fun and it makes education an enjoyable experience for everyone.

A lot of the learning is also done with the help of virtual reality (VR) today. Technology has come a long way and has also helped prepare the students through simulations and case studies. Immersive learning helps create a balance between the knowledge from books as well as the knowledge one gains from experience. Students are also encouraged to go out and gain experience outside on-field, in the form of internships and assignments.

These undertakings help a student to understand what it would be like to actually work in their preferred fields, also granting them a certification in order to authenticate and mark their experience. Many portals have also opened up in order to facilitate student internships and additional courses, either for free or at basic costs.

The pandemic may have brought the world to a physical standstill, but virtually it has helped many to broaden their goals as well as understand the ways in which the world works. Online classrooms had indirectly become immersive in nature. Teachers and professors have begun looking for new ways to keep the class engaged, using a variety of assignments as well as media. Needless to say, immersive learning is definitely the way forward in education, and this is a welcome change.

From a system that ranked the students based on their ability to simply memorise facts from their textbooks, education has now begun properly evaluating students on their ability to comprehend what they have learned and how they implement that knowledge in their lives. This has made studying a lot more proactive than earlier.

Students are now more actively involved in their classrooms and their studies, participating in their assignments as well as ensuring their questions are answered. It has also brought all the students to the same playing level, ensuring that everyone gets a fair chance at competing.

(The author is the founder of Bachpan Play Schools and Academic Heights Public Schools, and he co-founded Rishihood University and Must & More Diagnostic Centre)