How Wearable Technology is Revolutionizing Education?
Like every other sector, the education industry is evolving in the digital age, and wearable technology is revolutionizing how learning is delivered and experienced. This is why you can expect the classroom wearables technology market to grow from USD 10.2 million in 2023 to USD 40.3 million by the end of 2030.
Whether building edtech products or managing an educational institute, integrating wearable technology into your business strategy can open doors to new potential and better student engagement.
So, without any doubt, this technology helps optimize the educational system and is a good source of revenue stream for your business. But what exactly is the significance of wearable technology in education? And how can your business use them?
In this article, I’ll answer these important questions and tell you everything you need to know about wearable technology in education.
Understanding Wearable Technology
Wearable technology refers to electronic devices individuals can wear as accessories, embedded into clothes, tattooed onto the skin, or implanted in the body to track physical activities or any movements.
These modular devices function on microprocessors, are portable, and are hands-free. Moreover, they help exchange data via Wi-Fi and send and receive information/data over the Internet. However, like every other technology, wearable devices also come with certain pros and cons that businesses or end users need to keep in mind before investing in them.
Smart sensors, AR/VR headsets, implants, smart glasses, smartwatches, etc., are some of the best examples of successful wearable devices.
Types of Wearables in Education
Let’s now go through the most critical types of wearable devices in education:
Wearable Learning Devices
Tracking devices help educators monitor students’ learning progress, resolve their issues, and modify the teaching approaches based on the feedback gathered.
Virtual Reality (VR) Headsets
VR headsets help students to learn about subjects like science, art, and history in virtual environments. For example, any student learning about the Egyptian Pyramids does not have to visit that area physically; they can discover it in the comfort of their class or at home.
Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers
Using this wearable technology helps schools understand their students’ health, their caliber of physical activity, and even their vigilance level.
Augmented Reality (AR) Glasses
Opting for these wearable devices in education brings an extra layer of detailing on top of a real context and helps make lessons more interactive. For instance, an AR glass allows a biology student to learn better by visualizing the anatomy of the human body and, hence, the understanding of complicated concepts.
Pros and Cons of Wearables in Education
The following are some transformative benefits of wearable technology in education:
- Monitoring Student Well-Being — Devices like smartwatches help students track their mental and physical health. This allows educational students to understand when a particular student might need help or assistance.
- Better Engagement and Collaboration — When using wearable technologies, students can easily engage in online group activities, thus facilitating better collaboration with fellow learners worldwide.
- Personalized Learning — Smart devices help collect data about the student’s performance, allowing teachers to prepare teaching materials and set lessons as per the student’s capability.
Here are a few challenges you might face when using wearable technology in education:
- Technical Challenges and Maintenance — Managing wearable devices and ensuring their incorporation with existing solutions can be pretty challenging. You’ll also need robust IT infrastructure upgrades and support to deal with the technology efficiently.
- Higher Implementation Cost — One of the biggest limitations of adopting wearable technology is its higher technology. High-quality devices like AR glasses or VR headsets can be expensive to deploy massively. Hence, for smaller educational institutions, this might be a hurdle.
Significant Use Cases of Wearable Tech in Education
Let’s go through some of the most prominent use cases of wearable technology in education:
- Health Monitoring in Physical Education
Institutions can use smartwatches and fitness trackers in physical education classes to track students’ activity levels, steps, and heart rates.
- Automated Attendance and Student Monitoring
Smart ID badges can be utilized for automated attendance tracking, which also makes it seamless for schools to take and monitor students’ attendance in real-time.
- Virtual Field Trips
VR/AR headsets help students go on virtual field tours to historical landmarks, museums, and even other countries that are present in the classroom.
- Interactive Science Labs
AR/VR being one of the most popular EdTech trend that can be used in science labs to help students with systematic and easy visualizations and instructions of complex concepts.
The Bottom Line!
The benefits of wearable technology in education are plethora, however, there are some limitations with currently accessible products that will be resolved as the technology advances. Despite these limitations, wearable technology comes with the power to revolutionize the education industry and provide a more interactive and well-connected learning experience.
