VX Sport, a sport wearable technology company, is teaming up with schools in New Zealand to provide interactive content for teachers and students in the classroom. According to Scoop, the New Zealand independent news website, VX Sport is providing their data to teachers in order to help educate students in subjects such as math, English, and science. The data provided by VX Sport has already been adapted by several New Zealand schools that are excited about turning the information obtained on the sports field into fun and new learning opportunities.
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The technology of VX Sport is popular in New Zealand, where the company’s roots began with tracking players from the New Zealand Rugby Team (the Kiwis). Currently, not only rugby teams, but also 30 different college sports teams in the United States are using the VX Sport wearables.
While the current program is being offered in Australia and New Zealand, there are plans to expand into the UK, Malaysia, and Singapore. The educational initiative to bring sports field data into the classroom was developed by the University of South Australia Connect Programme in connection with VX Sport. Richard Snow, the managing director of VX Sport, is excited about the opportunity to take experiential learning to local schools. Snow believes, “It takes the often boring or lifeless abstract concepts discussed in school textbooks and makes it real and personal.” Snow also said, “It’s incredibly exciting to see how this technology makes learning hugely relevant to the next generation. Of course, the students are digital natives so what we’re doing really comes naturally to them.”
The use of sport wearable data in education could have a huge impact in the future with the way students continue to learn. As students continue to gain exposure to technology, textbooks become less popular. It is up to future professionals in the education industry to develop more interactive and digitally engaging methods of instruction. There is a massive opportunity for people with technology and education backgrounds to develop lesson plans and curriculums surrounding the new data produced by wearable companies such as VX Sport.
We recently covered the popularity of the sport and fitness wearables market trending upwards, and estimates projecting the value of the market at $44.2B by 2021. Therefore, the competition appears to be building for wearable companies. Education could be an opportunity for growth for companies such as FitBit, Garmin, and HI-TEC.