Monograph discusses VR, AR tech in education

The world's first English academic monograph about educational application of virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality technologies was released Wednesday in Beijing, expecting to give advice to participants involved in the field.

"The new era has set a higher demand for the innovation, technology and form of education, which is a challenge to many companies," said Xiong Li, Chief Executive Officer of NetDragon Websoft Holdings Ltd, China's online gaming and education developer.

The book aims to help people to understand related policies, apply technologies in real-world situations and train students or employees, he said.

VR, as one of the core technologies of the future mentioned during the G20 Summit last year, is gaining popularity in the Chinese education industry, which enables students to gain traditional black-and-white textbook knowledge in a 360-degree immersive digital world, and interact with virtual characters embedded in e-books, industrial insiders said.

The market scale of VR in the educational field is expected to hit $15.6 billion by 2020, which suggests a great potential, they said.

Founded in 1999, the company is one of the first in China to have launched products that combine VR, AR, MR, artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing with education, operated by its education subsidiary Elernity.

It now has offices in more than 150 countries and regions, including the United States, United Kingdom, Indonesia and Turkey, according to the company.

Other writers and editors of the monograph include professionals from Harvard University and Beijing Normal University, as well as more than 10 experts from home and abroad, it said.