Welcome to the Meratas Memo’s Weekly Roundup! This is your weekly fix of higher education and alternative financing news. Here are this week’s stories:
VR in the Classroom
With the rapid growth in remote learning as a result of the pandemic, teachers and students alike have had to adapt to new technology. Everything from Zoom to online testing and homework, education has shifted quite a bit. One piece of tech that doesn’t get a lot of attention, however, is virtual reality.
In this post by Edsurge, they sit down with Euan Bonner, a lecturer and researcher for Kanda University of International Studies in Japan, to talk about VR and how it can be used to perfect English language learning.
Read the full story on Edsurge here.
Handling the Pandemic Better This Year
It seemed like no two schools handled the pandemic in 2020 quite the same way. Some went online, others chose limited, in-person classes, and some decided on a hybrid model. There was no set guidance on best practices that every college and university agreed on. As a result, thousands of students were affected.
This year, universities are taking what they learned and are already doing better.
Read the full story on Inside Higher Ed here.
The AI Cartoon Rabbit Helping Kids Learn
There’s a certain mechanic in children’s TV shows that we are all too familiar with. When the protagonist runs into a particularly challenging scenario, they will often ask the viewers what to do next. While this is designed to engage kids, it never has any effect on the outcome of that character’s decision. But what if it could?
A PBS kids show, called “Elinor Wonders Why,” is using AI technology to program different responses from its main character, Elinor the Rabbit. When someone responds to her questions, she’ll have a different answer for each one. This kind of technology could change the way children learn and develop at an early age, especially considering they often consume media like this prior to learning to read.
