Recently, I came across this picture on the internet, which made me laugh and a bit nostalgic, for a second.

We all heard the “Do not sit too close to the TV” sentence, at least once.

Well, Millennials surely did.

Some scientists said — contrary to myth, sitting too close to the TV will not damage your eyes, but it may cause eyestrain. Whether it is harmful to do this, or not, I’ve pulled this one through without the need for glasses.

Perhaps it's all those carrots one could eat. :)

But, back to the picture and lets deep dive into the point behind it.

Whether we like it or not, every kind of interaction — be it social life or corporate life — is being influenced and shaped by technology.

Between those two, there’s education.

During history, education has been modified differently, but remained a constant, in one form or another.

The approach to education and its forms and methodologies evolved as mankind progressed.

Firstly, education formed the technology and now the technology itself paves the way for a better education.

Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented and mixed reality, are expanding opportunities for teaching and learning.

They have been transforming education and learning principles into a vivid and active experience, compared to passive learning in the past.

Virtual and AR tools could provide students with experiences that would be otherwise too expensive or hard to replicate in the real world. Truth said, wouldn’t it be great to simulate some chemical process or a meaningful historical event and to feel like you’ve been there?

Applying such modern tools or even abstract concepts to learning leads to education empowerment. There’s an interesting case of using the Metacognition concept at the University of Utah —

"Instructors used metacognition exercises to help their students improve their exam scores in a General Chemistry course.

Research has shown that students score better on tough exams when they don’t overestimate their abilities.

Incompetent people tend to overestimate their skills, whereas those who are skilled underestimate their potential — the Dunning-Kruger effect."

Confidence is important factor in any decision making. Yet, some people are often being presumptuous and tend to use confidence as a substitute for self-awareness and preparation.

Metacognition is a key to success. When used appropriately, metacognition can help one acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses.

AI system also uses the Metacognitive principles, to be more human-like in the way it acts according to values and ethical standards set by us.





Speaking of Millennials, and not to mention Generation Z, we could see that they’re reshaping the future of education, learning, and business.

Since they could access information with ease, they want both practical and immersive learning. The urge for visual experiences has never been stronger, so technologies like VR and AR are quite handy if used for this kind of purpose.

Furthermore, Millennials already took on the business and they’re molding it by their own desires:

supporting working remotely

freelancing

embracing the need for reskilling and self-improvement

“My way or the highway” doesn’t work for them when it comes to business and employers should have that in mind.





We can draw the line here and see the benefits of using modern technology in education:

- Increasing student engagement

- Excitement for continuous learning

- Improvement in test scores

- The better understanding of difficult concepts

(Yes, there are statistics for this one, but isn’t it already obvious that technology is de facto at the centre of the modern world?)

Even though these technologies can and should expand the experience of learning, they can’t replace a teacher. Humans are social creatures by nature after all. Without human interaction in the real world, humans would most probably become shallow, empty and senseless and would no longer be — humans.

Whether we like it or not, change is constant and inevitable phenomena of the world. Just embrace it and take the best from it.

Leave the usage of virtual and artificial for the good cause. The options can be numerous. While we’re having control over it we should be fine.

Don’t forget to stay real.



