A love for the real
The current challenge in virtual learning is to address the increased longing for authentic and tangible learning experiences.
You can learn a lot about pottery in an online class. Most of it is about pottery, not pottery as such. You miss the malleability of clay in your hands, the resistance felt while shaping it and the smell of clay. Similarly, a virtual Geography course may be great but you miss the humidity of the rainforest and the chill at the mountaintop. Nuances that build empathy and subtleties of humour in learning are diluted. Once we know what we miss, even in the best virtual learning environments, we can factor in those aspects in the course designs.
Top virtual learning providers aim to mimic realworld experiences. But, an algorithmically designed linear set of instructions limits its effectiveness. Immersive technologies like VR and AR can bridge this gap to some degree. They may create a more engaging environment but might fall short when it comes to the hidden shades of the real world. So, it is important to see learning design through the lens of what cannot be done in virtual. It is the rst step towards designing better online learning.
Hands-on virtual
While a virtual simulation can instruct you on gardening or farming techniques, it cannot replicate the feeling of soil between your ngers. A virtual baking class oers knowledge of ingredients and steps for baking. Yet, you miss the distinctive aroma of freshly baked bread. This sensory experience, often taken for granted, is powerful in memory-making and emotionbuilding. The sensory disconnect extends to sights, smells, and tastes that are central to sensory-motor skills. While replicating scents in the virtual space remains a future possibility, we must explore reintroducing sensory elements into the learning process.
Virtual environments often lack the innate unpredictability found in real-world learning. While a virtual Chemistry lab might simulate explosions, it fails to emulate the adrenaline rush (in a safe setting, of course) of a real experiment gone slightly wrong.
The true magic of learning often lies in the unexpected. In linear instructional design, you miss the opportunity to see ethical dilemmas in action and lack rst-hand experience with data privacy concerns and the algorithmic bias of the AI world. The unexpectedness is a fertile ground for problem-solving and is dicult to develop in a controlled virtual world. Many masterpieces in science, technology, and literature stem from the unexpected and the messy.
A virtual baking class oers knowledge of ingredients and steps for baking but the distinctive aromas are missing. This sensory experience, often taken for granted, is powerful in memory-making and emotion-building. While replicating scents in the virtual space remains a future possibility, we must explore reintroducing sensory elements into the learning process.
Haptic labs and tness apps
Imagine a Geology class
where, using special gloves, students virtually explore rock formations, feeling the variations in texture that a screen cannot convey. Haptic learning labs can create this reality by adding a layer of realism. The key question guiding instructional designers is: how can we incorporate real-world interaction without relying solely on screens? During the design stage of the course, provide spaces for unforeseen questions and divergent thinking for experimentation. It is okay to derail at times from a predetermined learning path that limits spontaneous exploration. When things get really messy, you really learn.
Beyond typical online activities like competitions, webinars, quizzes, and presentations, let students break the screen time. Embed short movement activities related to the lesson. Consider collecting and crowdsourcing local weather data, shadowing an experienced professional or documenting an art installation. Design such online challenges that send students on quests in their homes and neighbourhoods oine.
Just like tness apps nudge you to move and do physical activity, design online lessons that get students o-screen. The screen should be a guide, a touch point, not the entire experience. Use unboxing exercises that involve sending kits for build-it challenges for science experiments.
Another option is to provide prepped canvases for collaborative online painting. Here, students follow online instructions, conduct the activity oine, and then share and compare results virtually. Doing citizen science projects that classify things, behaviours, or ideas in video clips, then heading outside to observe them in the backyard, street, or society can create a tangible connection between virtual and real worlds. Avenues for cultural immersion can be scaolded using service learning, collaborative storytelling, and linking them with real-world communities of practice.
Cyberkinesthetics
No one ever found a new ower in an online botany course, no matter how immersive the technology is. Missing out on that thrill means losing a serendipitous moment that could have ignited a lifelong passion for ora. Pre-programmed experiences cannot replicate this spark. Thus, we require a new chapter in online experiential education where visuals and videos alone are insucient, and engagement metrics are dierently designed.
What we might term ‘Cyberkinesthetics’ could be an area of study on how virtual environments can be designed to engage our bodies and movement for learning. While cost, logistics and scaling present challenges, integrating authentic learning with consistent quality is a continuing pedagogical experiment. The use of technology to evoke the sense of touch in a virtual environment — let us name it ‘digital tactility’ — will be a core theme in education studies. In learning too, the body knows things that the mind does not remember.
(Views are personal)