Virtual Reality
is the computer generated simulation of a physical environment. It is an immersive experience in which the user's visual field is completely filled by the simulation through the use of specially designed googles or headset and the auditory sense is generally part of the experience as well. Depending on the technology involved, users may also experience haptic (tactile) feedback or olfactory (smell) sensations. Because of its ability to contextualize the learning experience without the constraints of the physical world, VR is a promising technology for language learning.
is the computer generated simulation of a physical environment. It is an immersive experience in which the user's visual field is completely filled by the simulation through the use of specially designed googles or headset and the auditory sense is generally part of the experience as well. Depending on the technology involved, users may also experience haptic (tactile) feedback or olfactory (smell) sensations. Because of its ability to contextualize the learning experience without the constraints of the physical world, VR is a promising technology for language learning.
Artificial Intelligence
conjures up images of the Terminator and HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and while these are a real possibility, the power of AI can be leveraged on many beneficial levels. You may not recognize it as such, but AI is already incorporated into many technologies that we use today. However, most people probably associate AI with computers that are capable of human-like intelligence and interaction. We have not quite reached this stage, but given recent advances, we may be much closer that many thought possible. When a computer is able to interact with us with human-like intelligence using natural language, this affords some very interesting possibilities for language learning.
conjures up images of the Terminator and HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and while these are a real possibility, the power of AI can be leveraged on many beneficial levels. You may not recognize it as such, but AI is already incorporated into many technologies that we use today. However, most people probably associate AI with computers that are capable of human-like intelligence and interaction. We have not quite reached this stage, but given recent advances, we may be much closer that many thought possible. When a computer is able to interact with us with human-like intelligence using natural language, this affords some very interesting possibilities for language learning.
Second Language
We all learned our first language (and possibly others) by being immersed in it from the moment we entered this world. We interpreted visual clues from the objects and people surrounding us. Our learning was situational and experiential. When many of us began to learn another language in school, we sat in organized rows, learned lists of vocabulary and completed worksheets on verb tenses. It isn't much of a surprise that this manner of teaching saw little success. Perhaps more so than any other domain, language learning naturally lends itself to experiential learning and technology is now making this a (virtual) reality.
We all learned our first language (and possibly others) by being immersed in it from the moment we entered this world. We interpreted visual clues from the objects and people surrounding us. Our learning was situational and experiential. When many of us began to learn another language in school, we sat in organized rows, learned lists of vocabulary and completed worksheets on verb tenses. It isn't much of a surprise that this manner of teaching saw little success. Perhaps more so than any other domain, language learning naturally lends itself to experiential learning and technology is now making this a (virtual) reality.
A Futuristic Vision For Language Learning
This site and its companion curriculum guide are a final project for a design course (ETEC 510 Design of Technology-Supported Learning Environments) in the Master of Education Technology at the University of British Columbia. This project is intended as an inspiration for educators and educational designers who are interested in the current state of these technologies, where they are headed and how they can be leveraged for creating effective learning spaces for foreign language acquisition. The final design project is to design a technology-enabled learning environment and propose a number of activities for this space. We have decided to design a learning environment that is situated ten to fifteen years in the future. As we are unable to transport you to that time, we will be describing how we envision it, and how it will function based on what is currently available, research in VR and AI and what experts in the field believe will be possible in this near future. We are very interested in the development path of VR and AI and the affordances of these technologies as they mature and converge.
Technology moves at a furious pace. Ideas that seemed like science fiction fancy only a short time ago have come to fruition and innovation has spawned new gadgets that few had dreamed of. In 2015 the Web celebrated it's 25 birthday, and the iPad only turned 5 years old. Internet bandwidth, processor speeds and storage capacity have grown exponentially over the years and this growth has accelerated the speed of development of technology. A decades old dream is upon us thanks to the recent advances. We are now on the verge of a veritable revolution in computing: virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
Technology moves at a furious pace. Ideas that seemed like science fiction fancy only a short time ago have come to fruition and innovation has spawned new gadgets that few had dreamed of. In 2015 the Web celebrated it's 25 birthday, and the iPad only turned 5 years old. Internet bandwidth, processor speeds and storage capacity have grown exponentially over the years and this growth has accelerated the speed of development of technology. A decades old dream is upon us thanks to the recent advances. We are now on the verge of a veritable revolution in computing: virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
Design Project Curriculum Guide | |
File Size: | 1102 kb |
File Type: |