Schools are evolving, and traditional techniques of imparting knowledge are being revisited. Immersive technologies are helping teachers forge bonds with students.

Voice-activated technologies; augmented, virtual, and mixed-reality tools; and video conferencing tools are changing communication patterns in K-12 schools. Teachers and students have new ways to engage with each other, and students can develop deeper connections with their peers and build essential soft skills.

Virtual reality, for instance, adds a dynamic layer to the K-12 education by introducing immersive elements that change the whole student experience. In a fast-evolving world, K–12 communities can use these tools to expand beyond real-world limitations and meet the prevailing social expectations from the new generation.

VR lessons can take students across the world without stepping out of the classroom. They also pave the way for a global community to engage in collaborative problem-solving, fluid communication, and intuitive learning. Students learn through engaging and interactive techniques, and, in the process, develop critical social skills that parents bemoan their kids no longer have.

Another immersive way to engage students is gamification. Interactive, collective technologies like these are growing in popularity. Digital avatars can boost students’ self-confidence, help them communicate better, and learn to accept diversity.

Schools have always been the best places to foster leadership, problem-solving, empathy, and communication skills. Digital classroom technologies further promote these competencies because students are no longer limited by language proficiencies, physical abilities, or resource availability. They can join in collective cultural experiences through the virtual world with schools from all over the world.

Technology integration that activates a classroom lays a solid foundation for students to communicate better with the world, forge social bonds, be more inclusive, and absorb knowledge better.

Lecture-based teaching is not so effective for a digitally immersed generation. Let’s face it; young people no longer devour books as we did. They devour the internet instead.

So, instead of a one-dimensional reading lesson, they learn better by taking a virtual journey, whether it’s through China or the central nervous system. Immersive learning is fast changing the entire classroom environment, the way information is accessed, and how students are taught. Transformative teaching tools like one-to-one robots are next, instead of laptops and iPads. Students can interact with the robots and experience interactive learning.

It is time to rethink the school spaces. When we can connect from anywhere and travel through our classrooms, then physical spaces will be transformed.

Learning is dramatically changing, and forward-thinking schools are looking at large, open areas that look empty but are intended to host dozens of students engaged in VR. These dynamic learning experiences allow students to take charge and learn despite all odds.