Extended Reality Learning

I and the contributors to this site work and invest in online education, online student support, and specialized LMS and LCMS companies. (And one diner and one medical device company, but that’s another story).

Pundits and prognosticators have for years been forecasting the imminent disruption of the education sector by the so-called exponential technologies. Platforms, communications, online collaborative environments, the growth of internet devices, the digitization of course materials – all of these were going to (and that’s in quotes) change everything about education.

The $8 trillion global education sector has thus far been untouched by all these predictions. The technology has changed in education. Flashcards are digital, presentation are on a computer screen, and reports are emailed to the teachers, but much of the change in education, and in the creation and consumption of learning material has been incremental replacement. No real fundamental changes in staffing, classrooms, classroom composition or environment has changed. The cost structure remains identical to what it was 30 years ago – 80% labor, 15% physical plant, and 5% learning materials. Technological revolutions have left it unscathed.

If anything, you might say it’s regressed.

Extended Reality may eventually be the disruption mechanism for the traditional education structures and accreditation systems that we have now. Not immediately, but technology like extended reality intersects with many other exponential technologies like AI, communications, display capability, infinite computing, photorealistic virtual environments, as well as alternate accreditation methods and learning taxonomies.

As we watch these technologies grow, specialize, and increase in complexity, we’re capturing our thoughts, online news summaries, and definitions in this site.