Sit Down, Class. Please Take Out Your Pencils and Oculus.

As an employee for an online education platform company, video is the main way professors lecture students. These videos are where students delve deep into the course content. Where webcam video powers classroom environments and students gain the experience of interacting with lecturers and fellow cohorts, asynchronous video is where most learning occurs.

These videos are two-dimensional, and often consist of a monologue-type lecture, with an occasional third-party video to watch.

I think the next evolution of this lecture video content is VR/360. This emerging media is already starting to expand into homes via gaming platforms, and on simplistic devices like the Google Cardboard. As more research and development money is thrown into this technology, it's safe to say that VR/360 will only get better as long as there is an audience. One area where there could be an audience is in the classroom.

Imagine lecture content that is filmed-on-location 360 video. As these cameras become easier to use and more portable than ever, I could see a virtual "field trip" to a museum. Perhaps an online art history class will be able to view a virtual MOMA. A medical student studying gross anatomy could virtually attend the dissection of a cadaver without being in the room.

While I think it will be several years where it becomes feasible, I definitely see the possibility of VR/360 technology becoming a tool in how people learn. I'm not quite sure this is good thing yet...I am definitely a cynic when it comes to the technology, especially in terms of journalism (too much staging, technology still isn't so "immersive" as it is just disorienting), but I wouldn't be surprised if this technology on a smaller scale won't naturally seep into our everyday lives. From my perspective, working at an education company, I can clearly see where the technology could be used. Time and testing will tell if it's a technology truly worthy of belonging in education.