vr ar education

The Promise of Immersive Learning: Augmented and Virtual Reality’s Potential in Education

AR/VR solutions can enhance classroom experiences and expand opportunities at all levels of learning. The federal government should support further innovation by investing in research, skill-building, content development, and equitable adoption of immersive technologies.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Introduction, the value of ar/vr in education, current applications of ar/vr technologies in education, considerations and recommendations for policymakers.

Digital technologies are continually transforming the field of education. In a 2019 Gallup survey, 65 percent of U.S. public school teachers said they used digital tools every day, while 13 percent used them a few days a week—and 85 percent saw “great value” in using them in the future. [1] As momentum for educational technologies continues to grow, educators and institutions are looking for new ways to integrate digital solutions into classroom experiences. Augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR)—immersive technologies that enable users to experience digitally rendered content in both physical and virtual spaces—offer notable potential for edtech innovation. These technologies expand the possibilities of learning environments from K-12 classrooms to medical schools by reducing barriers from physical space, enhancing collaboration and hands-on learning, and providing individualized learning approaches that can help students at all levels thrive.

AR/VR as an educational tool is hardly a novel concept. But immersive learning has only recently transitioned from small-scale experimentation to a multimillion-dollar market with rapidly growing use. [2] Classrooms across the country use AR/VR for virtual field trips, science experiments, immersive simulations, and more. Many basic experiences are compatible with mobile devices, and advanced headsets simultaneously improve in quality and decrease in cost. The technologies necessary to develop and access immersive content are also becoming easier to use and more affordable. [3] This report explores the current state and potential contributions of AR/VR in education and highlights a sampling of the solutions across subjects and learning levels that are building the foundation for the immersive classrooms of the future.

Policymakers can play a valuable role in accelerating adoption and encouraging innovation to realize the full potential of AR/VR technologies in education. Congress should direct the Department of Education to help to bridge existing knowledge and content gaps by:

• investing in research into best practices to mitigate health and safety concerns for young children, and providing guidance on age-appropriate use;
• providing resources and opportunities for educators to develop the skills and knowledge needed to successfully deploy these technologies, and developing resources and guidance to integrate AR/VR technologies into digital literacy initiatives to reduce the “learning curve” for students at all levels;
• accelerating the development of quality, relevant, and age-appropriate immersive educational content by investing in government educational content for AR/VR and expanding AR/VR innovation in colleges and universities; and
• supporting initiatives to expand access to AR/VR devices and applications.

Researchers have been exploring the potential of immersive technologies as an educational tool since at least the 1990s. [4] AR/VR technologies are a promising addition to the growing field of education technology because of their immersive experiences, their ability to share information in new and engaging ways, and their potential to offer virtual experiences that expand access to educational opportunities that would otherwise be limited by cost or physical distance. However, AR/VR devices and applications have only recently become affordable and user-friendly enough for these solutions to actually be implemented in classrooms.

AR/VR technologies offer a wide range of capabilities to present information in more interactive ways than their two-dimensional counterparts. At the highest level, advanced VR systems can fully immerse users in a virtual environment, where they can interact with virtual objects as well as other individuals in real time. This kind of experience lends itself to hands-on learning that either simulates real-world experiences or presents complex information in ways that would not otherwise be possible. For example, students can view microscopic objects in 3D, or stand in the middle of a physics simulation. VR also offers the ability for users to enter pre-recorded 360-degree visual experiences—either still images or video—they can view but not manipulate or interact with. This less-immersive (but often lower-cost) approach can be beneficial when the visual presentation or sense of presence is the most important element of a given experience, such as visiting a historical site.

With AR, or mixed reality (MR), users can interact with virtual objects that appear within their physical surroundings. This is most beneficial for scenarios wherein users need to interact with virtual objects while also maintaining situational awareness of their physical environment. For example, students could follow digital overlays of instructions for complex activities such as learning how to repair a complex machine or conducting a medical procedure. Much like VR, AR also offers less-interactive experiences, allowing users to view static virtual objects or information within physical space. This is most beneficial when the object itself holds the most educational value—such as placing a virtual model of a sculpture or historic artifact in a classroom, or overlaying additional text or images on a historical site.

There is growing enthusiasm among students and educators—as well as parents, administrators, and institutions—around using immersive technologies as educational tools.

• In a 2016 survey of 1,000 U.S. teachers conducted by Samsung Electronics and GfK, 93 percent said their students would be excited to use VR, and 83 percent believed these technologies could help improve learning outcomes. [5]
• In a 2017 joint report from digital and VR content companies and the DigiLitEY academic network, 70 percent of U.S. children ages 8 to 15 and 64 percent of parents expressed interest in VR experiences. [6]
• In a 2018 study from Common Sense Media, 62 percent of parents overall—and 84 percent of parents who had used it themselves—believed VR could provide their children with educational experiences. [7]
• Another 2018 survey finds that just under 50 percent of higher education institutions have either partially or fully engaged in VR deployment. [8]
• In a 2020 survey from Perkins Coie and the XR Association, respondents named education as the second most likely sector to be disrupted by immersive technologies in the near future. [9]

AR/VR-based education tools offer enormous potential to transform the way students of varying ages and disciplines learn. Indeed, although research into the value and efficacy of AR/VR in education is ongoing, several studies indicate that AR/VR tools can enhance learning outcomes in both K-12 and higher education settings. [10] Immersive solutions can present opportunities for educational experiences that would otherwise require significant travel or resources, such as visiting a faraway location or performing experiments in a laboratory. These experiences can also transcend physical space limitations to create educational opportunities that would not otherwise be physically possible, such as visiting another planet or period in history or manipulating enlarged models of microscopic objects. Further, AR/VR experiences can engage students in hands-on, gamified approaches to learning in a variety of subjects—which have been shown to support cognitive development and increase classroom engagement. [11]

In addition to offering new types of experiences for all learners, AR/VR tools can improve overall learning outcomes for students. [12] Immersive experiences have been shown to reduce cognitive load and distance, encourage higher engagement, and improve memory recall for complex or abstract topics, such as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects that often rely on two-dimensional representations of otherwise intangible concepts. [13] And individual-level immersive learning allows for more personalized approaches that can accommodate different learning styles, speeds, and abilities. [14] For certain types of learning, they can also provide feedback to students and educators and adjust individual learning objectives to meet students where they are—helping students realize their full potential and leaving fewer of them behind. [15]

AR/VR in K-12 Education

Due to the unique capabilities of these technologies, immersive solutions are gaining popularity among K-12 educators and administrators. AR/VR solutions can either enhance, partially replace, or fully substitute for traditional classroom learning. Perhaps the most common use in K-12 settings currently is enhancing classroom experiences. For example, teachers can walk students through immersive virtual field trips or allow students to interact with 3D models using AR. However, schools are also turning to AR/VR solutions for blended and distance learning. The pivot to online and hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the value of teaching tools not being tethered to a physical location. [16]

Immersive technologies allow students to passively participate in remote learning experiences and engage with instructors and peers in real time using shared virtual elements. [17] For example, mobile AR allows students to view a painting on their wall or an object in their living room, while AR/VR-based virtual labs would allow them to conduct hands-on experiments regardless of whether they are present in a fully equipped classroom or laboratory. Fully immersive VR experience also have the advantage of reducing distractions during remote learning, thereby encouraging students to be fully present during lessons.

AR/VR technologies also offer promising tools to engage students—both in the classroom and remotely—with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, or other cognitive or learning disabilities. [18] For example, VR experiences can help treat phobias in young people with ASD. [19] Meanwhile, AR can assist students with learning disabilities by altering or enhancing physical learning tools such as textbooks or flash cards.

AR/VR in Higher Education

AR/VR technologies are equally valuable in more advanced learning environments. College and university educators across disciplines are implementing immersive technologies in their courses. [20] In a 2018 survey of higher education institutions from Internet2, over two-thirds of institutions had either partially or fully deployed AR/VR solutions, and one-third were testing them. [21] Some academic institutions have even introduced dedicated spaces that allow students and faculty to access AR/VR devices and develop their own content. These dedicated labs, as well as hardware students either own or borrow, create new opportunities for students and educators to experiment with immersive learning (see box 1).

Box 1: AR/VR Access and Content Development at Higher Education Institutions

AR/VR labs, lending programs, and similar efforts can accelerate adoption of AR/VR edtech solutions at colleges and universities. These programs often provide students with their first hands-on experience with immersive technologies, and serve as a resource for faculty looking to integrate AR/VR solutions into their lessons. Interest in these offerings is growing: In the same Internet2 survey, although less than one-third of institutions (27 percent) were using AR/VR as part of their production IT environment, about half (53 percent) planned to deploy these technologies within the next three years. [22]

The following are three examples of existing programs introducing students and faculty to immersive learning.

The Harvard Innovation Labs AR/VR Studio is open to all full-time, degree-seeking Harvard students. [23] The studio includes a selection of AR/VR devices as well as content production equipment and software, and offers open sessions as well as guided workshops that encourage students to explore the potential of this technology.

Colorado State University launched an Immersive Reality Training Lab in 2019 to accommodate up to 100 students for simultaneous immersive learning experiences. [24] Part of the university’s Health Education Outreach Center, the lab was designed to enhance biomedical education with immersive simulations—without burdening students or faculty with the necessary equipment costs.

The University of Michigan XR Initiative , part of the university’s Center for Academic Innovation, provides funding and guidance for faculty projects that implement AR/VR technologies across disciplines. [25] The university also has several onsite labs with AR/VR devices and offers an equipment checkout service. [26]

One well-established use of AR/VR in higher education is immersive simulations. Virtual simulations offer relatively low-cost alternatives to more traditional in-person scenarios while maintaining a level of immersion that makes participants feel like they are “really there.” [27] This is particularly useful for high-cost or high-risk scenarios, such as in health care education. [28] Indeed, the cost of requisite software for a virtual simulation can be as low as one-tenth the cost of physical alternatives in medical education. [29] Beyond medical education, virtual simulations can also facilitate soft-skills training, such as negotiation and communication skills. [30]

Immersive learning can also supplement career and technical education. Much like scenario-based simulations, AR/VR solutions allow individuals to build skills through hands-on experience while also minimizing both the cost and risk associated with field training. [31] For example, students can practice operating or repairing 3D models of complex machinery to build familiarity and safety awareness before handling the real thing. Immersive tools for technical education can also better prepare students to utilize these and other emerging technologies in their chosen fields. [32] This baseline knowledge will be increasingly valuable as industries such as construction and advanced manufacturing continue to adopt AR/VR and other advanced technologies.

Finally, AR/VR solutions can enhance research collaboration as well as hybrid learning models. [33] Immersive environments allow students and instructors to interact face to face and in real time, regardless of where they might be physically located. Immersive collaboration could mitigate many of the factors that contribute to “Zoom fatigue”—a growing concern, as long-distance collaboration and communications increasingly rely on videoconferencing—such as cognitive load, restricted mobility, and prolonged eye contact. [34] In fully digital environments, all participants can also interact with virtual objects, including complex 3D models that would be costly to reproduce in the real world. MR solutions can also enhance hybrid collaboration and learning models that combine both in-person and virtual interactions; for example, by allowing an instructor to communicate with remote students by video chat while simultaneously conducting an in-person demonstration.

AR/VR for Educators and Administrators

Immersive technologies can enhance not just learning environments but also broader education systems. Just as immersive solutions can improve learning outcomes for students, they can also serve as valuable tools to better equip teachers for success. [35] Virtual training allows educators to hone their skills with simulated, virtual students first before doing so in a real-world classroom where their actions could significantly impact students’ lives. [36] As the technology continues to grow and develop, administrators and officials may also find value in leveraging immersive solutions for collaboration, communication, and community engagement.

AR/VR technologies offer significant potential to enhance learning at all levels and across disciplines. As immersive technologies evolve, new use cases in educational contexts are continually emerging. This section highlights some of the recent innovations that are building the foundation for the future of immersive educational technologies.

K-12 Education: Enriching Classroom Experiences and Expanding Opportunities

Immersive technologies have the potential to create more engaging, effective, and equitable learning environments for children. Current solutions in this space include libraries of immersive content suitable for educational use, specialized content for targeted subjects and learning levels, and tools developed specifically to support students with learning disabilities.

Immersive Learning Curricula and Resource Collections

Many existing AR/VR products for K-12 learning offer preset curricula and collections of immersive experiences teachers can adapt to specific learning objectives. Existing offerings include publicly available resources from government agencies, education-focused collections from libraries of immersive content, and specialized services from companies focusing specifically on implementing AR/VR in immersive experiences.

Public Resources

The Smithsonian Institution offers a repository of open-access 3D models that allow users to view items from Smithsonian museums’ collections in their physical surroundings using AR on a mobile device. [37] Unlike print or digital two-dimensional representations, these models give the viewer a sense of scale and allow them to interact with them in three-dimensional space. Educators can use these resources to enhance classroom learning in subjects such as natural and U.S. history. The initial collection comprises 10 items, including full-size skeletons, cultural objects, and statues, all available with any camera-enabled mobile device on the web-based Voyager platform. [38]

Figure 1: The Smithsonian Institution's AR tools allow users to view life-size replicas of popular exhibits—such as this mammoth skeleton from the Museum of Natural History—in their own physical surroundings. Image source: Smithsonian Institution via Instagram . [39]

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) also offers publicly available immersive educational resources instructors can integrate into lesson plans or broader learning experiences in museums or planetariums. These immersive experiences can place students in scenarios that would otherwise be impossible—such as experiencing life onboard the International Space Station or exploring another planet. [40] In 2018, NASA released a VR experience that allows users to view a rocket launch from the launchpad. [41] The agency also offers a collection of web-accessible 360° videos users can view on either a headset, computer, or mobile device. [42]

Content Collections

The New York Times guide to “VR in the Classroom” includes lesson plans that integrate the publication’s collection of 360° videos. [43] The guide includes lesson plans for STEM and humanities subjects and step-by-step instructions for teachers who may not have extensive experience integrating immersive content in their classrooms. Although the lesson plans offer a beneficial resource, teachers can also use the 360° videos as standalone tools. The videos can be viewed on a computer or mobile device or using a head-mounted display.

Figure 2: The “NASA SLS Oculus Rift Experience” lets users explore a virtual model of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and watch a simulated launch from the launchpad—an experience that would not be possible in the real world. Image source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) . [44]

The Google Arts and Culture platform hosts many of the experiences that were previously part of Expeditions, which is an app that allows teachers to build and lead virtual field trips. [45] The platform contains 360° experiences, including artwork, space exploration, natural history, musical performances, and cultural and historical sites around the world. [46] Educators can use these experiences to build full virtual excursions or enhance classroom lessons.

Edtech Services

ClassVR is a full-service immersive education platform from edtech provider Avantis. [47] The service includes both the requisite hardware (plastic VR headsets) and a library of curriculum-aligned immersive educational content, which teachers can control from a centralized management system on a single computer. [48] Unlike decentralized libraries that do not allow teachers to control the experience once students are in-headset, this system allows teachers to integrate VR into guided lessons.

Kai XR is a subscription-based immersive learning platform that was developed to address opportunity gaps in education—namely access to field trips and other off-site enrichment activities. [49] The platform offers guided, multilingual virtual field trips to museums, monuments, historical sites, and even outer space. [50] The company offers affordable headsets, but the platform is also accessible on computers and mobile devices. In addition to field trips, the platform includes tools to teach students how to build their own immersive spaces and virtual experiences.

Figure 3: With basic headsets and a mobile device, educators can integrate immersive content collections—such as virtual field trips to otherwise inaccessible locations—into their lesson plans at relatively low cost. Image source. Image source: iStock. [51]

Subject Specialization

While some K-12-focused products offer a wide selection of content to cover a variety of subjects, others offer experiences for specific subjects or learning objectives.

BioDive by Killer Snails is a web-based VR experience built to teach middle school students about marine biodiversity. [52] Students explore an underwater ecosystem as marine biologists, and the app prompts them to make observations and develop hypotheses in an online journal. Teachers can view individual student progress and help guide their learning. Students can access both the immersive experience and the online journaling feature on any web-enabled device.

Figure 4: BioDive lets students experience a marine expedition from an immersive, first-person view. Image source: Killer Snails. [53]

Movers and Shakers develops AR tools to integrate Black experiences in middle school history curricula. [54] Most recently, the organization launched Kinfolk, an app that lets students interact with AR models of Black leaders throughout history, such as Frederick Douglass, Harry Belafonte, and Shirley Chisholm. [55] Users can view each figure’s digital “monument” and access related content such as their biography, related historical artifacts, and even playlists.

Special Education

AR/VR’s ability to provide individualized learning solutions can benefit all students, including those with cognitive and learning disabilities. In addition, there are immersive programs available specifically for special education, particularly for students with ASD.

Project VOISS (Virtual Reality Opportunities to Implement Social Skills) is a Department of Education-funded program based out of the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning and Department of Special Education. [56] The project uses VR experiences to help middle school-aged students with learning disabilities develop and practice social skills. The program provides students and teachers with a low-risk, controlled environment to practice many common scenarios with a headset or web-enabled device. [57]

Floreo offers VR-based lessons in social and life skills for young people with ASD. [58] Through story-based interactive scenarios, users can practice conversations and social cues in a gamified environment. Educators or other supervisory figures can view progress and guide the experience via an application on a tablet or mobile device. The experiences focus on building social connections, simulating real-life interactions, and practicing emotional-regulation techniques. [59]

Figure 5: With immersive simulations such as Floreo, students can practice interactions they might experience in their daily lives, such as conversations with peers, in a controlled, low-risk environment. Image source: Floreo. [60]

Higher Education: Making the Theoretical Tangible and Equipping Students for Their Futures

Higher education solutions combine the learning advantages of immersive experiences with AR/VR’s capacity to reduce barriers found in physical space. They are often more decentralized than their K-12 counterparts, giving students more opportunities to learn and explore independently with guidance from instructors. STEM and health care education have long stood at the forefront of immersive learning, but colleges and universities in particular are increasingly turning to AR/VR solutions to enhance education in less-obvious fields, including humanities and art, and even professional fields such as law and business.

STEM Education

Immersive experiences can be particularly beneficial in STEM education because they offer hands-on experiences that would be either logistically difficult or physically impossible in the real world. A growing number of STEM faculty and educational technology experts are developing creative ways to teach complex and often abstract concepts using AR/VR tools.

Polar Explorer is a VR teaching tool developed by researchers at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, the University of Arizona, and the University of Colorado Boulder to teach undergraduate students about the impacts of climate change on polar environments. [61] The program takes students through interactive virtual field trips to the Arctic—an experience that few would have the financial resources or physical ability to have in real life.

Faculty at Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia in Spain used a VR environment built in the web-based Mozilla Hubs to develop hands-on lessons about the coronavirus. [62] Not only could students explore learning tools such as a larger-than-life model of the virus, they could do so in real time alongside their professor and peers in a virtual environment at a time when in-person collaboration was not possible due to COVID-19 safety measures.

At Purdue University , astronomy students can explore interactive, 3D models of astronomical objects in a virtual, collaborative environment. [63] Students and the professor can access the virtual space from anywhere using a headset or a computer, allowing the instructor to guide students through lessons that would otherwise rely on two-dimensional representations of these distant and complex phenomena.

Figure 6: Students in Professor Danny Milisavljevic's astronomy class investigate 3D models of astronomical objects alongside their peers in a virtual environment. Image source: Purdue University. [64]

The Air Force Academy is integrating MR solutions into chemistry lessons through a new platform called HoloChem. [65] Developed by GIGXR (a company that produces AR, VR, and MR learning systems for STEM and medical education), the platform allows cadets to conduct advanced chemistry experiments that would be dangerous to execute in real-life labs, particularly by less-experienced learners. [66]

Medical Training

Medical education requires significant hands-on, in-person learning to prepare students for everything from interacting with patients to completing complex procedures. Medical and health care educators are increasingly turning to AR/VR solutions to provide low-cost, low-risk, and often more interactive alternatives to traditional approaches in this field.

HoloAnatomy is a medical education program developed at Case Western Reserve University that uses Microsoft HoloLens MR devices to enhance anatomy curricula. [67] Rather than a traditional cadaver-based approach, HoloAnatomy allows students to interact with 3D anatomical models and receive real-time feedback. The collaborative, MR-based approach also lends itself to remote learning, which proved critical for medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic. [68]

Figure 7: Using HoloAnatomy software and MR headsets, medical and life sciences students can view and manipulate anatomical models in real time. Image source: Interactive Commons at Case Western Reserve University. [69]

Oxford Medical Simulation is a VR-based medical simulation platform that allows learners to practice patient care scenarios, from taking a medical history to administering treatment. [70] After completing a simulation, students receive individualized feedback and can re-enter the scenario multiple times to improve their performance. The software can also be used remotely on a computer if students do not have access to a headset.

Imperial College of London’s School of Medicine launched a remote clinical teaching program using the Microsoft HoloLens to improve remote and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. [71] As a substitute for the hands-on clinical experience necessary for medical education, clinicians wear HoloLens devices that record a live feed of their patient interactions during their rounds. Not only can students observe these interactions in real time but they can also interact with the clinician to ask questions just as they would when observing rounds in person. Virtual access also means an experience that would normally accommodate a handful of students is now much more widely accessible. [72]

Arts, Humanities, and Other Disciplines

AR/VR tools in higher education extend beyond hard sciences to enhance learning across disciplines. Increasingly, faculty and researchers across subject areas are taking advantage of the immersive, engaging, and information-rich experiences these technologies offer.

A visiting professor at Hamilton College offered a course in 2018 titled “Dream a Little Dream: Virtual Realities and Literature,” which encouraged students to engage with literary texts by creating their own literature-inspired VR environments. [73] Students were able to develop important skills in the humanities, such as critical thinking and literary analysis, and they also learned the fundamentals of VR development.

Figure 8: Students at Hamilton College combine literary analysis and VR development skills to create visual interpretations of literary works in VR. Image source: Hamilton College. [74]

The University of the Arts launched the Center for Immersive Media in 2019, which aims to enhance the school’s renowned performing arts instruction with immersive technologies such as VR, motion capture, and spatial audio. [75] Students and faculty can utilize the facility to explore the potential of AR/VR and human-computer interaction in performance and arts education.

The University of Oregon Center for Applied Second Language Studies launched the Virtual and Augmented Reality Language Training (VAuLT) program in 2018. [76] The application allows language learners to practice more realistic interactions and contextualize foreign language grammar and vocabulary in real-world settings. [77] Unlike traditional language learning approaches, VAuLT allows students to reap the benefits of real-life practice in a low-risk setting.

Soft Skills and Career Development

In addition to the value they offer in specific disciplines and subject areas, AR/VR technologies can help students develop critical soft skills that will better equip them for success in the future. This is particularly valuable for students entering fields such as law, business, and health care, where person-to-person communication, negotiation, and critical thinking skills are just as important as technical knowledge.

Career Mindset Development is an interactive VR simulation developed by digital soft skills training platform Bodyswaps as part of a partnership with further education colleges in the United Kingdom. [78] The 15-minute module allows learners who are just entering the workforce to practice workplace communication skills and provides them with feedback on both their verbal and nonverbal communication. [79]

Figure 9: Participants in the Career Mindset Development module practice common workplace interactions, such as giving colleagues feedback on a presentation. Image source: Bodyswaps. [80]

The University of Michigan Innovation Fund has awarded grants to faculty for several soft skills and leadership training projects that utilize immersive technologies. [81] Projects extend across disciplines and learning objectives, including training future lawyers to give appropriate feedback in legal settings, cultivating leadership competency among nursing students, and preparing future social workers for the field. [82]

Technical Education and Specialized Training

Like soft skills training, AR/VR can enhance technical education and specialized training by creating a low-risk, low-cost learning environment. Immersive experiences can expose learners to highly technical and even potentially hazardous activities in order to better prepare them for real-world field experience. AR/VR technologies can also expand access to technical education by reducing the need for travel to onsite training or investment in expensive equipment.

An edtech provider that builds interactive AR experiences for specialized hardware, zSpace offers immersive learning tools for key sectors including health sciences, advanced manufacturing, agriscience, and transportation. [83] In 2019, the company partnered with career and technical education resource and credentials provider NOCTI to enable students to earn up to 33 industry credentials using zSpace learning tools. [84] According to the company website, over 50 technical colleges in the U.S. have installed zSpace tools. [85]

Figure 10: Edtech provider zSpace uses a combination of digital screens, glasses, and stylus controls to allow students to interact with and manipulate 3D renderings of physical objects. Image source: zSpace. [86]

The U.S. Army’s Synthetic Training Environment equips leaders to conduct complex trainings and simulations in synthetic environments using AR, VR, and MR. [87] This capability means trainings no longer have to be tied to a specific location or terrain, allows for more iterative and information-rich training simulations, and provides analytics that allow leaders to adjust trainings to meet specific objectives. [88]

Ferris State University’s FerrisNowVR Initiative utilizes VR technologies to deliver engaging and interactive STEM education to high school students in rural school districts across Michigan. [89] Students can dual-enroll in synchronous courses at the university and earn credits toward certificates in information technology and other technical fields—without traveling outside of their home district. Funded by a U.S Department of Agriculture Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant, the program’s goal is to deploy necessary technologies to 20 high schools and career and technical education centers in 11 counties. [90]

Teacher Training: Preparing Educators for Success

Children and university students are not the only audiences for education-focused immersive experiences. The same capabilities that make these technologies a valuable tool in K-12 and higher education also position them to help educators learn and grow.

TeachLivE is an immersive classroom simulator developed at the University of Central Florida’s Center for Research in Education Simulation Technology. [91] The program allows new or soon-to-be teachers to practice responding to high-stress classroom scenarios in a controlled environment. This can help teachers understand their own classroom behavior in a low-impact setting—if something goes wrong, or they react inappropriately, they can simply reset the simulation. [92]

Teacher’s Lens aims to address unconscious or implicit biases that may impact how teachers interact with female students and students of color. [93] Using VR, participants go through a simulated classroom interaction in which the program asks them to call on students of different races and genders. Drawing on the Harvard Implicit Association Test, the program uses this data to determine whether they exhibit unconscious preference and provides feedback to the participant to help educators and institutions better understand where implicit biases may exist so they can take steps to address them. [94]

Figure 11: Teacher's Lens translates the Harvard Implicit Association Test into a VR simulation for teachers, and provides them with feedback that could help them recognize and address their own biases in classroom settings. Image source: DebiasVR via Oculus Experiences. [95]

AR/VR technologies have enormous potential to transform the way students learn at all levels. But the promising future of immersive learning is not guaranteed. It is important to note that many elements beyond the technology itself will determine the success of AR/VR solutions in educational settings—and policymakers should take action to create an environment in which innovation in this sector can thrive. [96] Addressing key considerations of technical knowledge, educational content, health and safety, and accessibility can encourage more widespread adoption and incentivize ongoing innovation to realize the full potential of AR/VR as an educational tool.

Congress should direct the Department of Education to invest in programs, resources, and initiatives that will guide the development of AR/VR educational solutions and encourage further innovation in this field.

Invest in Research on Health, Safety, and Efficacy

The potential educational benefits of immersive learning tools are evident, but there are still outstanding questions that will need to be addressed. First, there are many unknowns regarding the health and safety impacts of AR/VR technologies, particularly for younger children. [97] The lack of research does not necessarily mean these technologies are unsafe. However, additional investigation of both psychological impacts (e.g., children’s ability to distinguish fictional scenarios or virtual environments from the real world) and physical or physiological impacts (e.g., motion sickness, eyestrain, or potential injuries from head-worn devices) would provide more clarity for parents and educators. According to Common Sense Media, 30 percent of parents are “very concerned” about potential negative health impacts of VR on their children, which may create resistance to using these technologies in the classroom. [98] Second, as AR/VR is still a relatively nascent and rapidly evolving technology, the evidence base for the benefits of AR/VR solutions on learning outcomes is still relatively small. More research is needed to understand when and how these technologies can be most beneficial for learning, including best practices to adapt existing pedagogical approaches to immersive tools.

Providing scientific research on the safe and effective use of these devices for children will help parents, administrators, and educators make better decisions about how to use immersive technologies, especially those that utilize head-worn displays, in classroom learning. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in the Department of Education should support research that specifically examines the health and safety impacts of immersive technologies on children. This research should include not only investigating the prevalence and severity of potential negative effects—such as psychological impacts or motion sickness—and their causes, but also best practices to mitigate these potential harms to ensure children can gain the educational benefits of immersive experiences without side effects. The Education and Health and Human Services departments should use the outcomes of this research to produce guidelines for developing and implementing immersive educational experiences for different age levels. This should include considerations of age limits and parameters for age-appropriate content, types of devices, and duration of individual experiences. [99]

In addition to health and safety, IES should also provide funding for research into effective uses of AR/VR technologies to enhance learning outcomes. This research should cover not only uses in K-12 classrooms but also in higher education and distance learning. A comprehensive understanding of how these technologies impact learning outcomes could help educators, administrators, and individual learners make informed decisions about when and how to add AR/VR devices and applications to existing educational tools. This research could also inform broader guidance and recommendations from the federal government, as recommended ahead.

Encourage Technical Literacy

Because AR/VR is still a relatively new technology, there is a notable technical learning curve for both students and educators that may discourage adoption. It is important that instructors have the necessary knowledge to effectively integrate AR/VR solutions in their lesson plans. Because AR/VR adoption is still in its early stages, many educators have not even been exposed to the technology in other contexts, such as training or personal entertainment. [100]

As discussed in this report, many educators are enthusiastic about deploying these technologies in their classrooms. The Department of Education should build on this enthusiasm by offering educators training and resources for using immersive technologies. For example, the department should provide state education agencies with funding to train educators on how to use different AR/VR devices and applications and identify the best ways to integrate AR/VR technologies to meet state-level standards for classroom and distance learning. In addition, the department should provide funding for educators to enroll in courses to learn how to create basic immersive content so they can create their own materials to meet specific learning objectives.

Technical literacy also presents a challenge for adoption among learners of all ages. Because household adoption rates are still relatively low—particularly for more immersive head-worn displays—many kids’ first exposure to AR/VR technologies could be in classroom settings. [101] This is consistent with existing trends in digital literacy: According to the 2018 International Computer and Information Literacy Study, teachers are the primary source of knowledge for key information and communications technology skills such as creating digital documents and presentations and using computer programs and files. [102] The Department of Education should integrate key AR/VR skills into existing digital literacy resources and initiatives for both K-12 and adult learners, including health and safety measures, participant conduct in multiuser experiences, and the fundamentals of content development.

Accelerate Content Development

Educational AR/VR content remains in a chicken-and-egg cycle. Although quantity is expanding, there is still a relative dearth of quality, relevant, age-appropriate content. This in turn keeps demand for AR/VR solutions relatively low, which discourages further efforts to develop such content. [103] And this challenge is not limited to education: In a 2021 survey of AR/VR industry leaders, 53 percent of respondents named “content offerings” as one of the top barriers to adoption of immersive technology. [104]

Government investment in immersive educational content could break this cycle. [105] There are three key channels through which this could be achieved. First, federal government bodies that already produce educational content, such as NASA and the Smithsonian Institution, should invest in developing web-based immersive content. By increasing the amount of quality and relevant immersive educational content available, these investments could encourage more educators and institutions to invest in the devices necessary to fully experience it. Further, the Department of Education should include AR/VR solutions as a priority in its investment and grantmaking activities. This could incentivize innovation both in content development and the use of these technologies in different educational contexts and subjects. Finally, the federal government should encourage colleges and universities to establish AR/VR labs and resources on their campuses. As discussed in this report, these spaces could spark interest in immersive technologies as educational tools (thereby increasing demand for content), and also encourage students and faculty to develop innovative uses of these technologies across disciplines, which would increase the range of content available.

Support Equitable Adoption

Although the cost of immersive solutions is going down, it is still prohibitive for many, particularly districts and institutions with limited resources. Schools that do have the budget for new technology solutions will likely prioritize established, proven technologies such as laptops and tablets over newer devices and applications—such as AR/VR—that carry higher uncertainty and unfamiliarity. Fortunately, schools do not necessarily need hundreds of high-end headsets to take advantage of the benefits AR/VR educational tools offer. Many of the tools highlighted in this report are accessible on web-enabled devices including computers, tablets, and mobile phones. Funding for technology-access initiatives should prioritize proposals that include provisions for using these devices as immersive educational tools.

In addition, to accelerate adoption of more advanced solutions (e.g., heads-up AR and MR displays or VR headsets) in educational settings and ensure these technologies are accessible to as many learners as possible, the Department of Education should provide funding for public schools and community colleges to establish AR/VR labs that can provide immersive technology resources to students, educators, and community members. Initially, the department should provide funding for a small number of pilot centers, with preference given to rural and low-income districts where learners stand to benefit most from the opportunities these technologies present for distance and experiential learning. These preliminary initiatives could inform guidance and best practices for additional funding and encourage state and local governments to implement similar resources.

The use cases highlighted in this report represent only a sample of the ever-expanding field of immersive education. As the technology continues to advance and gain more widespread adoption, new possibilities will undoubtedly emerge.

Going forward, it will be important to ensure instructors have the necessary skills and knowledge to implement AR/VR solutions in their lesson plans and create opportunities to develop necessary content, including equipping students and educators with the skills to do so. Policymakers should support further innovation by facilitating content development, investing in necessary research into safety and efficacy, and supporting efforts to expand access to these technologies.

About the Author

Ellysse Dick (@Ellysse_D) is a policy analyst in tech and cyber policy at ITIF. Her research focuses on AR/VR innovation and policy including privacy, safety, and accountability. She holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a BA in International Affairs and German Studies from the University of Colorado.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute focusing on the intersection of technological innovation and public policy. Recognized by its peers in the think tank community as the global center of excellence for science and technology policy, ITIF’s mission is to formulate and promote policy solutions that accelerate innovation and boost productivity to spur growth, opportunity, and progress.

For more information, visit itif.org .

[1] Gallup and NewSchools Venture Fund, “Education Technology Use in Schools” (NewSchools Venture Fund, 2019), http://www.newschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Gallup-Ed-Tech-Use-in-Schools-2.pdf .

[2] Fortune Business Insights, “Virtual Realty in Education Market” (Fortune Business Insights, 2019), https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/virtual-reality-in-education-market-101696 .

[3] ABI Research, “Augmented and Virtual Reality Tools Empower Education and Drive AR/VR Market Value to US$700 Million,” news release, April 17, 2019, https://www.abiresearch.com/press/augmented-and-virtual-reality-tools-empower-education-and-drive-arvr-market-value-us700-million-2023 .

[4] David M. Markowitz et al., “Immersive Virtual Reality Field Trips Facilitate Learning about Climate Change,” Frontiers in Psychology 9 (2018), https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02364 .

[5] Samsung Electronics, “Survey Finds Teachers Want to Make Virtual Reality a Reality in the Classroom,” news release, June 27, 2016, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160627005621/en/Survey-Finds-Teachers-Want-to-Make-Virtual-Reality-a-Reality-in-the-Classroom .

[6] Dylan Yamada-Rice et al., “Children and Virtual Reality: Emerging Possibilities and Challenges” (Dubit and DigiLitEY, 2015), http://digilitey.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/CVR-Final-PDF-reduced-size.pdf .

[7] Jennifer Stevens Aubrey et al., “Virtual Reality 101: What You Need to Know About Kids and VR” (Common Sense Media, 2018), https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/pdfs/csm_vr101_final.pdf .

[8] Ben Fineman, “2018 VR/AR in Research and Education Survey” (Internet2, 2018), https://meetings.internet2.edu/media/medialibrary/2018/10/25/20181016-fineman-metaverse.pdf .

[9] BoostVC, Perkins Coie, and the XR Association, “2020 Augmented and Virtual Reality Survey Report” (Perkins Coie, March2020), https://www.perkinscoie.com/images/content/2/3/v4/231654/2020-AR-VR-Survey-v3.pdf .

[10] Alice Bonasio, “Immersive Experiences in Education: New Places and Spaces for Learning” (Microsoft, 2019), https://edudownloads.azureedge.net/msdownloads/MicrosoftEducation_Immersive_Experiences_Education_2019.pdf .

[11] Ashley Deese, “5 Benefits of Gamification,” Smithsonian Science Education Center , January 8, 2021, https://ssec.si.edu/stemvisions-blog/5-benefits-gamification .

[12] Archit Kaushik, “XR for Social Impact: A Landscape Review” (Games for Change, 2020), https://www.gamesforchange.org/refresh2018/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/G4C_XR4C_2020_white_paper_Final.pdf .

[13] Ibid.; Erik Krokos et al., “Virtual Memory Palaces: Immersion Aids Recall,” Virtual Reality 23 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-018-0346-3 .

[14] Eli Zimmerman, “AR/VR in K-12: Schools Use Immersive Technology for Assistive Learning,” EdTech, August 22, 2019, https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2019/08/arvr-k-12-schools-use-immersive-technology-assistive-learning-perfcon .

[15] Bonasio, “Immersive Experiences in Education: New Places and Spaces for Learning.”

[16] Barbara Holzapfel, “What Educators Have Learned from Remote Learning Prepares Them for the New School Year,” Microsoft Education Blog, June 15, 2020, https://educationblog.microsoft.com/en-us/2020/06/what-educators-have-learned-from-remote-learning-prepares-them-for-the-new-school-year .

[17] Scott Likens and Daniel L. Eckert, “How Virtual Reality is Redefining Soft Skills Training,” PriceWaterhouseCoopers, June 4, 2021, https://www.pwc.com/us/en/tech-effect/emerging-tech/virtual-reality-study.html .

[18] Reem Sulaiman Baragash et al., “Augmented Reality in Special Education: A Meta-Analysis of Single-Subject Design Studies,” European Journal of Special Needs Education 35, no. 3 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2019.1703548 .

[19] Morag Maskey et al., “A Randomised Controlled Feasibility Trial of Immersive Virtual Reality Treatment with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Specific Phobias in Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” Journal of Autism Disorders 49 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3861-x .

[20] Ryan Johnston, “VR in Universities a Welcome Addition, but Not Yet ‘Plug-and-Play,’” EdScoop, May 26, 2021, https://edscoop.com/virtual-reality-technology-universities .

[21] Fineman, “2018 VR/AR in Research and Education Survey.”

[23] “AR/VR Studio,” Harvard Innovation Labs, accessed August 16, 2021, https://innovationlabs.harvard.edu/arvr-studio .

[24] Ben Lang, “Colorado State University has Deployed a 100 Headset VR Lab for Biomedical Education,” Road to VR, October 10, 2019, https://www.roadtovr.com/colorado-state-university-immersive-reality-training-lab-vr .

[25] “The XR Initiative,” University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation, accessed August 16, 2021, https://ai.umich.edu/xr-initiative .

[26] “XR Resources,” University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation, accesed August 16, 2021, https://ai.umich.edu/xr-resources .

[27] Fatima Gutierrez et al., “The Effect of Degree of Immersion on Learning Performance in Virtual Reality Simulations for Medical Education,” in Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 15, edited by James Westwood (IOS Press, 2007): 155–160.

[28] Markowitz et al., “Immersive Virtual Reality Field Trips Facilitate Learning about Climate Change.”

[29] Jack Pottle, “Virtual Reality and the Transformation of Medical Education,” Future Healthcare Journal, October 11, 2011, https://www.rcpjournals.org/content/futurehosp/6/3/181 .

[30] Likens and Eckert, “How Virtual Reality is Redefining Soft Skills Training.”

[31] ARSOME Technology, “How Can Virtual Reality Improve Vocational/Technical Education?” ARSOME Technology Blog , August 29, 2020, https://arsome.com/blogs/how-can-virtual-reality-improve-vocational-technical-education .

[32] Christian Dominic Fehling et al., “Enhancing Vocational Training with Augmented Reality,” Conference Paper, International Conference on Knowledge Technologies and Data-Driven Business (October 2020), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309373052_Enhancing_Vocational_Training_with_Augmented_Reality .

[33] Cody Karutz and Jeremy Bailenson, “Immersive Virtual Environments and the Classrooms of Tomorrow,” in The Handbook of the Psychology of Communication Technology, edited by S. Shyam Sundar (Wiley Blackwell, 2015): https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118426456.ch13 .

[34] Jeremy Bailenson, “Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the Causes of Zoom Fatigue,” Technology, Mind, and Behavior 2, no. 1 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000030 .

[35] Yonit Nissim and Eyal Weissblueth, “Virtual Reality (VR) as a Source for Self-Efficacy in Teacher Training,” International Education Studies 10, no. 8 (2017), https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v10n8p52 .

[36] Jennifer Herseim, “How Virtual Reality is Changing the Game of Teacher Training,” District Administration, July 24, 2019, https://districtadministration.com/how-virtual-reality-is-changing-the-game-of-teacher-training .

[37] Jamie Cope, “Voyager + AR,” Smithsonian Digitization Program Office , November 24, 2020, https://dpo.si.edu/blog/voyager-ar .

[38] “AR Experiences,” Smithsonian 3D Digitization, accessed August 16, 2021, https://3d.si.edu/collections/ar-experiences .

[39] Image source: Smithsonian (@smithsonian), Instagram post, December 9, 2020, https://www.instagram.com/p/CIlnsh2HYZJ.

[40] “The International Space Station Experience,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7877 .

[41] Jennifer Harbaugh, “Virtual Reality Program Allows for Immersive SLS Experience,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), September 14, 2020, https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/virtual-reality-program-immersive-sls-experience .

[42] “NASA VR / 360 Multimedia for Planetarium Shows and Informal Education,” NASA Museum and Informal Education Alliance, last updated July 2021, https://informal.jpl.nasa.gov/museum/360-video .

[43] Travis Feldler and Natalie Proulx, “Virtual Reality Curriculum Guide: Experience, Immersion, and Excursion in the Classroom,” The New York Times, last updated May 6, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/learning/lesson-plans/virtual-reality-curriculum-guide-experience-immersion-and-excursion-in-the-classroom.html .

[44] Harbaugh, “Virtual Reality Program Allows for Immersive SLS Experience.”

[45] Adi Robertson, “Google is Shutting Down its VR Field Trip App Expeditions,” The Verge, November 13, 2020, https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/13/21564279/google-expeditions-vr-cardboard-tours-shutdown-arts-culture-app-migration .

[46] “360-Degree Videos,” Google Arts and Culture, accessed August 16, 2021, https://artsandculture.google.com/project/360-videos .

[47] “ClassVR,” accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.classvr.com .

[48] “Classroom Virtual Reality Lesson Experience,” ClassVR, accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.classvr.com/classroom-virtual-reality-lessons .

[49] Darragh Dandurand, “Kai XR: Bringing VR to the Classroom, One Headset at a Time,” VRScout, August 9, 2020, https://vrscout.com/news/kai-xr-bringing-xr-to-the-classroom .

[50] “Kai XR,” accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.kaixr.com .

[51] Image source: kokouu, “A girl wearing VR goggles and playing on the table,” iStock, September 30, 2020, https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/a-girl-wearing-vr-goggles-and-playing-on-the-table-gm1275746333-375777142 .

[52] “Biodive,” Killer Snails, accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.killersnails.com/pages/biodive .

[53] Ibid. Image reprinted with permission.

[54] “Movers and Shakers NYC,” accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.moversandshakersnyc.com .

[55] “Kinfolk,” accessed August 16, 2021, https://kinfolkhistory.com .

[56] “Project VOISS,” accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.projectvoiss.org .

[57] Emily Gera, “How VR is Being Used to Help Children with Learning Disabilities, Autism,” Variety, December 11, 2018, https://variety.com/2018/digital/features/voiss-interview-vr-hmd-1203086576 .

[58] “Floreo,” accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.floreotech.com .

[59] Floreo, “Floreo Demo,” YouTube video, September 18, 2020, https://youtu.be/S-77A-G7Shk .

[60] “Floreo.” Image reprinted with permission.

[61] Kate Petersen and Karin Valentine, “Team Awarded NSF Grant to Teach Virtual Explorers About Permafrost, Arctic Climate Change,” ASU News, Arizona State University, July 19, 2021, https://news.asu.edu/20210719-team-awarded-2m-nsf-grant-teach-virtual-explorers-about-permafrost-and-arctic-climate .

[62] Universidad Católica de Murcia, “Clase inmersiva del Coronavirus en Mozilla Hubs,” YouTube video, February 4, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikvPKzKHHeQ .

[63] Brittany Steff, “Flying Among the Stars: Purdue University Professor Using Virtual Reality to Teach Astronomy,” Purdue University News, May 3, 2021, https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2021/Q2/flying-among-the-stars-purdue-university-professor-using-virtual-reality-to-teach-astronomy.html .

[64] Purdue University, “Innovative, lightweight, and accessible technology allows students to immerse themselves in astronomy, no matter where they are on Earth,” accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/2021/milisavljevic-cropLO.jpg . Image reprinted with permission.

[65] Scott Maucione, “Air Force Academy will Soon Start Using Mixed Reality for Hands-On Learning,” Federal News Network, July 13, 2021, https://federalnewsnetwork.com/air-force/2021/07/air-force-academy-will-soon-start-using-mixed-reality-for-hands-on-learning .

[66] GIGXR, “Holochem Exemplifies the Power of Immersive Learning,” GIGXR Blog , July 19, 2021, https://blog.gigxr.com/holochem-air-force .

[67] “About HoloAnatomy,” Case Western Reserve University, accessed August 16, 2021, https://case.edu/holoanatomy/about .

[68] Susanne Wish-Baratz et al., “Assessment of Mixed-Reality Technology Use in Remote Online Anatomy Education,” JAMA Network Open 3, no. 9 (September 2020), https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.16271 .

[69] Image reprinted with permission from Interactive Commons at Case Western Reserve University.

[70] “Oxford Medical Simulation,” accessed August 16, 2021, https://oxfordmedicalsimulation.com .

[71] Dorrit Pollard-Dave, “School of Medicine Delivers Live Clinical Teaching with Microsoft HoloLens,” Imperial College London, November 25, 2020, https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/209473/school-medicine-delivers-live-clinical-teaching .

[73] Vige Barrie, “Literary Dreamscapes Made ‘Real’ via Virtual Reality,” Hamilton College, June 27, 2018, https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/virtual-reality-technology-and-literary-dreamscapes-intertwined-in-this-classroom .

[74] “Looking Up at the Dragon,” Hamilton College, accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/virtual-reality-technology-and-literary-dreamscapes-intertwined-in-this-classroom . Image reprinted with permission.

[75] “Center for Immersive Media,” University of the Arts, accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.uarts.edu/centers/cim .

[76] “About CASLS,” University of Oregon Center for Applied Second Language Studies, accessed August 16, 2021, https://casls.uoregon.edu/about-us/about-casls .

[77] “Virtual and Augmented Reality Language Training (VAuLT),” University of Oregon Center for Applied Second Language Studies, accessed August 16, 2021, https://casls.uoregon.edu/classroom-resources/vault .

[78] “FE Innovation Partners Employability Training: Transforming Employability Training in the Further Education sector,” Bodyswaps, accessed August 16, 2021, https://bodyswaps.co/project/transforming-careers-in-the-education-sector .

[79] Bodyswaps, “VocTech VR Pilot Project Final Report: Career Mindset Development” (Bodyswaps, June 2021), https://bodyswaps.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/VocTech-Pilot-Final-Report-PUBLIC.pdf .

[80] “Career Mindset Development: Get Your Career Off on the Right Track,” Bodyswaps, accessed August 16, 2021, https://bodyswaps.co/soft-skills-training-in-vr/workplace-communication-essentials/career-mindset-development. Image reprinted with permission.

[81] “XR Innovation Projects,” University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation, accessed August 16, 2021, https://ai.umich.edu/xr-innovation-projects .

[82] See for example: Patrick Barry, “Feedback Loops,” University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation, https://ai.umich.edu/projects/feedback-loops ; Barb Medvec, “Cultivating Leadership Competency through XR,” University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation, https://ai.umich.edu/projects/cultivating-leadership-competency-through-xr ; Larry Grant, “Digital Brave Spaces,” University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation, https://ai.umich.edu/projects/digital-brave-spaces .

[83] “Industry Credentials,” zSpace, accessed August 16, 2021, https://zspace.com/industrycredentials .

[84] zSpace, “NOCTI Partners with zSpace to Deliver AR/VR Training Aligned to Career and Technical Education Industry Certification Exams,” news release, December 5, 2019, https://zspace.com/newsroom/nocti-partners-with-zspace-to-deliver-ar-vr-training-aligned-to-career-and-technical-education-industry-certification-exams .

[85] “Our Customers,” zSpace, accessed August 16, 2021, https://zspace.com/customers .

[86] “Industry Credentials.” Image reprinted with permission.

[87] “Synthetic Training Environment (STE),” U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center, accessed August 16, 2021, https://asc.army.mil/web/portfolio-item/synthetic-training-environment-ste .

[88] Joyce M. Conant, “Augmented Reality May Revolutionize Army Training,” U.S. Army, August 9, 2017, https://www.army.mil/article/191942/augmented_reality_may_revolutionize_army_training .

[89] “Ferris State University Awarded a $669,216 USDA Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grant Award,” Ferris News, https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/archive/2020/october/usda.htm .

[91] “Center for Research in Education Simulation Technology,” University of Central Florida, accessed August 16, 2021, https://ccie.ucf.edu/crest/about .

[92] Deanna Ferrante, “Kickin’ It New School,” Pegasus: The Magazine of the University of Central Florida, Spring 2017, https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/kickin-new-school .

[93] Jessica Outlaw, “Reduce Hidden Bias in Teachers and Restore Equity in the Classroom,” XR Bootcamp on Medium, May 25, 2018, https://medium.com/xrbootcamp/teachers-lens-from-debiasvr-is-available-now-97614a8813b6 .

[94] Clorama Dorvilias, “Teacher’s Lens Beta – Demo Video,” YouTube video, May 9, 2018, https://youtu.be/UEDmevMzKXA .

[95] Debias VR, “Teacher’s Lens Beta,” Oculus Experiences, accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1552250918219351. Image reprinted with permission.

[96] Ellysse Dick, “With the Right Investments, AR and VR Can Reduce Education Gaps,” Innovation Files, February 10, 2021, https://itif.org/publications/2021/02/10/right-investments-ar-and-vr-can-reduce-education-gaps .

[97] Edd Gent, “Are Virtual Reality Headsets Safe for Children?” Scientific American , October 4, 2016, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-virtual-reality-headsets-safe-for-children .

[98] Aubrey et al., “Virtual Reality 101: What You Need to Know About Kids and VR.”

[99] Gent, “Are Virtual Reality Headsets Safe for Children?”

[100] Samsung Electronics, “Survey Finds Teachers Want to Make Virtual Reality a Reality in the Classroom.”

[101] Aubrey et al., “Virtual Reality 101: What You Need to Know About Kids and VR.”

[102] “U.S. Results from the 2018 International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) Web Report,” U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics (2019), https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/icils/icils2018/theme1.asp .

[103] Jon Roepke, “Solving These 5 Issues will Make Education AR/VR Go Mainstream,” VentureBeat, October 5, 2019, https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/05/solving-these-5-issues-will-make-education-ar-vr-go-mainstream .

[104] Perkins Coie and the XR Association, “XR Industry Insider: 2021 XR Survey” (July 2021), https://www.perkinscoie.com/content/designinteractive/xr2021 .

[105] Dick, “With the Right Investments, AR and VR Can Reduce Education Gaps.”

Editors’ Recommendations

November 18, 2020

ITIF Technology Explainer: What Is AR/VR?

June 1, 2021

Current and Potential Uses of AR/VR for Equity and Inclusion

Principles and policies to unlock the potential of ar/vr for equity and inclusion.

Showing Students What's Possible

• Posted May 30, 2023
• By Ryan Nagelhout

Ph.D. class marshal Eileen McGivney has spent the last six years of her life learning and teaching at Harvard, applying new technologies to the traditional problems students face. She acknowledges that technology is far from a cure-all for teachers. But the rapidly evolving world of virtual reality and immersive technology — and how it impacts the classroom — is exciting.

“I was visiting schools, interviewing school leaders and teachers but I realized that most people in the policy realm, myself included, didn’t really know how people learn,” McGivney says. “How do you actually use technologies to improve teaching and learning? What's going on in classrooms on a day-to-day basis? And how do we design solutions?”

That means much more than simply buying VR headsets to use in classrooms, says McGivney. New technology is good — especially technology that lets students feel like they’re scientists conducting research in remote places like Antarctica or the International Space Station — but there’s much more to learning than new tools and unique experiences.

“We’re going to see [these tools] integrated more in interesting ways,” says McGivney. “And so then it’s about what that gets us that we can’t do in a regular classroom. I think that’s a really healthy way to think about it.”

Here, McGivney discusses her time at HGSE, the gulf between technology innovation and implementation in classrooms, and what’s next for her research in virtual reality.

How have you seen educators adapt to technology trends that often move so quickly there isn’t time to develop best practices? It’s very hard to innovate in the education system when you have a lot of legacy systems of practices. We’ve just done things for a long time and what people are used to. A lot of it comes down to basic things like what we define as learning. Over time policy has pushed us in the wrong direction in that sense and kind of made things worse.

As I get further into my research and really thinking more about some of these emerging technologies like virtual reality – or the little that I know about the AI tools that are coming out – I actually think it’s OK to take a slower approach in education. I think that some of our tech failures in the past have been from going too full-force into getting new technologies into schools without spending the time to figure out how they’re integrated into instruction in a really meaningful way. And how they can actually help teachers or how we prepare teachers to use them in ways that we think are most powerful.

With VR, I see the potential for similar policies to what we saw with laptops and tablets at one point where the focus was to just get this hardware into schools. Or smart whiteboards: just get it into schools, we’ll worry about the content and the teacher training later. And so actually they don’t have a transformative impact. People use them, but they don't necessarily use them in the best way.

I’m not really sure what the right approach is, but I don’t want to just sit back and wait for education to change. I think that’s especially not good from an equity perspective. We need to be really thinking about the teachers and students who don’t typically have access to these things and how we support them.

Tell me about your dissertation research. Where do you see that focus moving forward in the future? I worked with a high school engineering team and two of his classes and we designed a series of lessons that used VR field trips. Part of it is a research-practice partnership model where we’re really thinking about what challenges he’s facing. What are things that he wants to get from using these technologies? And then also what are the research questions that I have about learning in these environments and how do we design lessons that meet his needs and a research study that meets my needs.

It was a really great process. I was so fortunate to work with a teacher who’s incredibly flexible and super passionate. One of the things he struggles with with his students: he teaches engineering for students over three years. So it’s kind of unusual for high schools to have that much engineering programming. But even with continued instruction over three years students still struggled with the first step in the engineering design process, which is problem finding and problem articulation. Especially in more open-ended environments.

How did VR help with that teaching? We felt it was a good use of the technology because the experiences that I was looking at using for these lessons allowed students to observe STEM professionals in Antarctica and the International Space Station. It let students think about problems that engineering could solve for people working there. I was also interested in how students learn with different types of VR media. There are two dominant forms of media, one is 360-degree videos. Immersive, filmed, real environments. And the other is graphical environments, more like a video game. In a graphical environment you can usually pick up objects and interact more, versus in a video you’re observing and there’s usually a narrative story as well.

I wanted to see how students learned with those two different mediums differently, and more specifically their sense of agency and control over their learning and their STEM identity. If you’re interacting with the environment in the shoes of an explorer in Antarctica, are you more motivated or have a higher STEM identity than if you’re observing people working in their environment?

Those learning outcomes came from both types of media, they were both really rich environments but it did seem like students who used videos before they used interactive graphical environments were able to make more sense of that learning process. So that was an interesting finding in terms of instructional design. In addition to the small group discussions and giving students more time to process their learning we also found that videos can be scaffolds for learning in more open-ended environments. So that’s something really interesting that I’m planning to explore more in-depth in the future.

I also found that it had a really strong impact on their emotions. And they expressed things like a sense of awe. They expressed a lot of enjoyment and having fun, curiosity, fear – those things all came up from the analysis. So I’m starting to think a lot more about the emotional component of VR. Because I think that’s a really powerful use where those kinds of emotions are important for learning and cognition. But they’re hard to engender in a classroom activity where you strip down as much of the context as possible. So that can be really hard to kind of engage students in the emotions that people actually feel in the process of scientific work.

How will you continue this work post graduation? You’ve recently accepted an assistant professor position at Northeastern, will you bring this research there moving forward? Yes, I’ll be at the College of Art, Media and Design. Specifically working on a program about extended reality (XR) in education innovation. So continuing to do this kind of research and school partnerships in the area, but also broadening out to work with more schools and programs.

So far, all the VR that I’ve used in my research is something other people created and I created lessons around it. Or I partnered with programs who are piloting their implementation of a program. But I’m excited to be at a design school where people are going to actually be creating new VR applications and working as a learning designer in that role as well, to create some new applications that we can try out with schools too. I hope to use XR in my own teaching and work with others at the university.

What does it mean for you to be named a Ph.D. marshal and represent your cohort? This is a moment of reflection for me for sure. I feel like the last year has been wild, being on the job market, finishing my dissertation. It’s been really crazy. It’s nice now to have a little bit of breathing room to actually reflect on that and what I’m taking with me from the six years that I’ve been here.

It means a lot to me because it’s something that my peers nominated me for. I think it’s really meaningful because in my time at Harvard, I’ve tried to be really involved in our program and helping other students as much as I possibly could. I’ve been part of the Research Doctoral Advisory Committee, basically since I started in the program and was co-chair of that for a while. Advocating for the needs of Ph.D. students while at HGSE has been a highlight for me, and it’s been a way to meet people across the program and learn more about them.

Since I’ve been here we formed the graduate student worker’s union, and I tried to be as involved as I could in picketing and advocating and getting that union started. And for my cohort, I’ve been kind of the unofficial social chair since the beginning, less in recent years. But I organized a lot of gatherings for everybody and kind of helped bring us together. I have a ton of lifelong friends that I’ve met in the program.

So to have them recognize me as someone who contributed to the program and their experience means a lot to me. Because I’ve tried to put as much effort as I could in improving the student experience while I’ve been here. And I hope to continue to do that as an alum, especially Ph.D. students who are interested in the kind of research that I do or navigating the job market.

The latest research, perspectives, and highlights from the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Related Articles

Computing with Creativity

Paulina Haduong, Ph.D.'23, on understanding the challenges that K–12 teachers and students face in learning computing together

YOU Belong in STEM

Best Laid Plans

Best VR Headsets for Schools

The best VR headsets for schools are one of the ideal ways to offer engaging and immersive learning right now

Recent updates

This article was updated in April 2024

The best VR headsets for schools are being used far more widely now. The technology is more affordable and available, while the software options are greater than ever, and growing daily.

Both virtual reality and augmented reality headsets give teachers an opportunity to offer students an immersive experience of a topic or subject. From taking a virtual trip to ancient Rome to dissecting a frog without any real animals being harmed, the possibilities are broad. Plus, this option is far more affordable and safe than the physical world alternatives. 

Many headset systems now work as a group, allowing the teacher to guide the students as they each have a personal viewing experience from their connected headset. This can mean a great focus of attention, even for students that might otherwise struggle to stay engaged in a group situation.

For this guide we're mostly looking at the best VR and AR systems for schools, used in the classroom.

Best VR headsets for schools

1. classvr: best overall.

Our expert review:

Specifications

Reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

The ClassVR system, by Avantis, is a purpose-built VR headset and software package designed for schools. As such, these headsets are solidly constructed with a plastic shell and wide headband. Each system comes with a pack of eight, plus all the kit necessary to get up and training. Crucially, ClassVR also offers a lot of assistance with setting up the install and managing the system, if that's what the school chooses. 

The system offers plenty of educational content that is actually curriculum-aligned. Since it's all run from a centralized management system, it leaves the teacher in total control and also means you don't need more than one main computer to have it up and running. 

Since this ensures all the students see the same content at the same time, it can facilitate a group learning experience, just as with a real class trip, for example. The price is reasonable for what you get but when you compare to affordable options that work from home, it's still a commitment.

2. VR Sync: Best for Use with Multiple Headsets

VR Sync is a digital platform that can be used to send a VR experience to multiple headsets. Since this is simply the software part of that, it leaves the school free to use varying headsets. This is also a great option for a school that allows students to bring in their own headsets from home.

You can add videos, so you can make your own or use those downloaded from online. You get full 360-degree video with spatial audio for full immersion. It also offers an option to study analytics of how users interact – aimed more at business users, but it has potential for the classroom too.

Sync VR currently works with Oculus Go, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, Pico, Samsung Gear VR, Android, and Vive.

3. Redbox VR: Best for Content

The Redbox VR system is similar to the ClassVR setup, only this offering is created to work with Google Expeditions specifically. As such, it's an ideal way to take a class on a virtual tour of places all over the world, now and in the past.

The system comes in a box with a selection of headsets and all the kit needed for set up and keeping the system charged for use. An optional 360-degree video recording setup allows users to make their own videos – ideal for a virtual tour of the school, for example.

The system comes with a 10.1-inch tablet that allows the teacher to control the experience with ease while still remaining mobile enough to move around the class.

4. Oculus Meta Quest 3: Best Stand Alone Setup

Meta Quest 3

The Meta Quest 3, formerly Oculus, is one of the most powerful standalone headsets out there right now. While it's not specifically built for the classroom, it packs in so much power, so many features, and such a wealth of content, that it's a great classroom tool. It's not cheap, and you do need a Facebook account to get up and running, but it's worth all that for the super accurate gesture controls and more.

This is a light model, making it suitable for younger users too. Everything runs quickly and the display is crisp and high-res enough to help even those less comfortable with VR to be at ease using this headset.

5. Google Cardboard: Best Affordable Option

Google Cardboard

Google Cardboard is a very, very affordable option. At its most basic, this is a cardboard box with two lenses, and although there are many unofficial versions with plastic build and head straps for a little more, we're still talking under $25 here. 

A smartphone is required in the headset to make the magic happen, but the system is still relatively cheap and can work anywhere. A negative as not all students have powerful enough smartphones, or want to risk breaking one.

Since this is part of the Google VR system, you get lots and lots of content that's always being updated. Google Expedition offers virtual school trips all over the world and, of course, it's all free to use. Beyond that, there are educational apps and the ability to create content for viewing. Add that to Google Classroom and you have yourself a very capable VR platform.

6. Windows Mixed Reality: Best for AR

Windows Mixed Reality

Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality is an augmented reality (AR) platform that works with Windows 10 and 11 devices and a selection of headsets. A fair amount of content is free, created by VictoryVR, but it's nothing compared to the scale of Google. That said, this is curriculum-specific content, so expect it to be useful: From virtual dissections to holographic tours, it's all very immersive.

The big sell here over a lot of VR is that this brings the virtual into the room, allowing students to have their hands recognized to interact with the virtual object as if they were really there. This is Microsoft, so don't expect it to be cheap, but there are a number of partners offering headsets, such as Dell and HP. Microsoft itself offers the Hololens 2.

Of course you can simply use a Windows 10/11 tablet with no headset for an AR experience too, as a more affordable alternative. 

7. Apple AR: Best for Visually Engaging Apps

The Apple AR offering is one that's built for use on its tablets and phones, specifically the LiDAR packing iPad Pro. Consequently, this is an expensive option when it comes to hardware. But for that outlay you get some of the most visually attractive and engaging apps designed specifically for education. 

Put a virtual civilization on a school desk or explore the stars during the day, all from a single screen. Of course, if students already own Apple devices that can help to extend the experience without cost to the school. Since this is Apple, expect plenty more apps to come and lots of free options too.

8. Vive Cosmos: Best for immersive games

Vive Cosmos

The Vive Cosmos is a super powerful VR and AR headset that comes with very sensitive and accurate gesture controllers. All that is backed by a PC connection, so high-powered experiences are possible. Plus, there is a lot of modular capability, so you can invest less up front and upgrade parts as and when you need.

The programs include Vive Arts for educational content, from pairings with the likes of the Louvre and Museum of Natural History. This allows students to build a tyrannosaurus rex, bone by bone, for example. A lot of free content is available including a virtual anatomy class, a light refraction experiment, and more.

9. Apple Vision Pro: Best for ease

Apple Vision Pro

The Apple Vision Pro is a very impressive AR contender on this list but it's low down here as it's also very, very expensive. Sure, this being Apple means it's easy to setup and use and with more and more rich content landing daily. But that also means an Apple price tag which puts this out of reach for many schools -- or at best, taking turns and sharing a headset.

Thanks to eye-tracking smarts and superb display resolutions, this is super simple to use and looks great. But it's not designed specifically for schools, so keep that in mind if you're thinking of making the investment. 

Pricing and short battery life aside, plus that heavy headset weight, this is one of the best VR experiences you can have and it will only get better, so if you can afford it, this is worth a try.

• Best Thermal Imaging Cameras For Schools
• How to Use a Document Camera for Remote Learning

Tech & Learning Newsletter

Tools and ideas to transform education. Sign up below.

Luke Edwards is a freelance writer and editor with more than two decades of experience covering tech, science, and health. He writes for many publications covering health tech, software and apps, digital teaching tools, VPNs, TV, audio, smart home, antivirus, broadband, smartphones, cars and much more.

Best Printers for Schools

AllHere Ed: How to Use It to Teach

Lifelong Learning: Modeling for Students and Faculty

Most Popular

• Our Company Overview
• Diversity and Inclusion
• History and Timeline
• The Verizon Story
• Headquarters & Contact Info
• Verizon Fact Sheet
• Innovation Labs
• Broadband & Fiber
• Internet of Things
• Managed Security
• Verizon Ventures
• Code of Conduct
• Management Governance
• Open Internet
• Retiree Information
• State Government Affairs
• Supplier Diversity
• News Center
• Networks & Platforms
• Products & Plans
• Responsible Business
• Public Safety
• Inside Verizon
• News Releases
• Media Contacts
• B-roll and images
• Emergency resource center
• Welcome V Team
• Responsibility Overview
• Verizon Innovative Learning
• Verizon Innovative Learning HQ
• Small Business Program
• Sustainability
• Reskilling Program
• Employee Volunteers
• Giving and Grants
• Employee Giving
• Accessibility
• Account Security
• Privacy Policy
• Digital Parenting 101
• Young children 3-8
• Preteens 9-12
• Teenagers 13-18
• Meet the editorial team
• Investor Relations overview
• SEC Filings
• Annual Reports
• Quarterly Earnings
• Stock Information
• Dividend History
• Tax Information
• Fixed Income
• Asset-backed Securitization
• Board of Directors
• Board Committees
• Cost Basis Calculator
• Shareowner FAQs
• Human Rights at Verizon
• Investor Events & Webcasts
• Investor News
• Investor Calendar
• Email Alerts
• Contact Investor Relations

We recommend that you view this content online or on your mobile device for a better design and navigation experience and the ability to seamlessly access links and other documents. This version is provided so you can PRINT a version of this content in a single document.

How will AR and VR in classrooms affect the future of education?

Additional resources:.

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology — collectively known as extended reality (XR) — is on the rise, especially in education. Seven out of 10 teachers want more VR and AR in education , especially when it reinforces the curriculum and student interest, according to a recent study by Statista. This type of technology creates opportunities for experiential learning , which:

• Helps students make deeper connections with learning.
• Gives students hands-on experiences with things they may never otherwise encounter.
• Goes beyond rote memorization and into immersive learning.
• Customizes experiences to students’ interests, abilities, and learning styles.

You can see what XR learning is like by exploring VR and AR apps like Mapper’s Delight, Visceral Science, Gravity Simulator and more. Most often the only VR equipment you need is a VR headset , but the experience can be enhanced with haptic gloves and other equipment.

By making learning immersive and experiential, VR and AR technology can help create a better understanding of complex topics. XR facilitates a new, exciting kind of experiential learning, and experiential learning has been proven to work.

A rigorous meta-analysis of experiential learning outcomes across 89 studies showed overwhelmingly positive and robust results for students. Experiential learning outcomes are nearly 50% better than traditional learning outcomes. Through experiential learning, students increase cognitive and social skills, meaning they retain information better, improve problem-solving and develop a deeper understanding of social issues.

By helping students experience feelings of wonder and delight as they view the world in a new way, XR can serve as a highly effective experiential learning tool. Let’s explore eight ways that this technology can expand learning beyond the classroom.

Expanding interactive experiences

Some common VR and AR interactive experiences include:

• Virtual field trips for K-12;
• Immersive learning for skill building;
• Creating to-scale 3-D models for architects and engineers;
• Accessibility for differently-abled students;
• High-risk training scenarios for health care professionals;
• Laboratory research methods training for science students;
• Field training for construction and advanced manufacturing specialists.

With XR technology in education, students can experiment with immersive experiences from the arts and humanities to technology, vocational programs and science. Instead of just listening to an orchestra, they can play first chair or practice helping the injured in a high-risk situation. 

Instead of dissecting a frog or a pig’s heart a few times in a lab, students can do it hundreds of times in a digital world, which improves the accessibility of science education. Instead of conducting dangerous experiments with toxic substances in-person, researchers can safely simulate these experiments with XR.

These broad and diverse educational experiences can help students do anything from exploring the world to building practical skills and preparing for the modern, tech-rich workplace .

Overcoming experience barriers

Have you ever seen the Aurora Borealis? Watched a lion pride hunt in the African sun? Perhaps you want to experience history first-hand . VR and AR technology in education can put you right in the middle of the world outside your borders. Experiences that are impractical for a classroom can become daily activities.

With AR and VR, people without access to certain resources can build practical skills through experiential learning. These kinds of experiences not only expand intellectual intelligence, but also our emotional intelligence . It creates deeper levels of critical and abstract thinking.

Overcoming financial barriers

Many education systems are already strapped for funding, which makes it hard to give students access to activities to enhance learning. Augmented and virtual reality in education brings those experiences into the classroom, overcoming financial barriers for both schools and students.

VR and AR education statistics show that equipment is already in most classrooms, but the comfort isn’t. In a report from Statista on the demand for VR services by industry , almost 80% of teachers have access to VR devices, but less than 7% use them. If the technology is already available, you can begin creating immersive experiences from day one.

Overcoming language barriers

Language differences can create inequitable access to learning, but AR/VR in education transcends those barriers. AR/VR technology offers language translation for students who may not understand the material. They can sit in the classroom with their actual teacher while using AR/VR to translate the lesson and even participate in classroom discussions. 

For students learning a foreign language , having access to AR/VR in education puts them in immersive scenarios to practice and explore. Order dinner in a French restaurant, complete a job interview in English, or tour a museum in Spanish. Virtual and augmented reality give you ways to practice new languages in authentic settings.

Increasing enjoyment of activities

Research shows that interest-based learning , where lessons are built around the topics students find interesting, promotes deeper engagement with learning. AR and VR technology in education immerses students in a world where they can explore their interests beyond textbooks. And with AR in the cloud , students could take their learning with them on the go, using cloud-based apps or even classroom notes to engage with the world in real-time as they explore new places or encounter new things.

Even more mundane assignments, like memorizing multiplication tables or learning about civics, can come to life with VR. Instead of writing out answers, you can catch them in the air with your hands. Instead of learning about the government, you can sit in Congress and vote on legislation.

Offering spatial references

The smallest particles we know of are called quarks — they are smaller than atoms, protons, neutrons and even electrons. When taught in the classroom, we use diagrams, videos and photos to convey the size of our subatomic world. But our minds can never understand how truly tiny this world is with merely a diagram. That’s a time when AR and VR can magnify learning.

AR/VR technology transports students into various spatial worlds. On the subatomic scale, Belle2VR — which was developed by researchers at Virginia Tech — allows students to interact with a VR visualization of particle physics . Students can view subatomic particle collisions impossible to see with the naked eye. They can zoom in and out, adjusting transparency to watch a particle race head-on towards another.

Or, with the Virtual Reality Universe Project, students can zoom all the way out and explore a virtual universe based on the most detailed contemporary astrophysical and cosmological data. Imagine flying past galaxies, space stations, planets, multicolored gas, stars and black holes in real time.

Those studying a particular type of animal can examine a realistic scale of the species. Veterinarian students can see the actual size difference between organs. Builders can see how measurements will fit together in real size. With this type of emerging technology in education, students get spatial references that help them better understand complex concepts.

Offering more accommodations for disabilities

Augmented and virtual reality in education has a powerfully unifying benefit — inclusivity. Students of all abilities can have immersive experiences with their learning, thanks to the growth of VR and AR in education. Activities that were limited to only one learning style are now open to all kinds of learners. The accessibility accommodations powered by technology are constantly growing.

VR and AR are particularly empowering for students diagnosed with learning disabilities . This tech can break down barriers to learning by allowing differently-abled students to learn through experience. It can help students stay focused, persist through challenging tasks, problem-solve, and practice in a low-stress, low-pressure environment. Early research even suggests that VR users with various health impairments may stand to gain the most from using VR therapeutically and recreationally.

Creating opportunities for hands-on experiences

AR and VR technology has some practical uses in education, especially when it comes to hands-on experiences. Students engage in activities tactilely, embedding knowledge not just into their minds, but also into their senses. People ready to work can get hands-on skill training and practice anytime with AR and VR technology. Students unsure of their career path can learn about certain jobs by exploring them virtually.

The opportunities for self-discovery with AR and VR in education are endless. There is no age, subject, industry, skill, or trade beyond its capability. Education can become a more transformative experience for learners of all abilities with the growth and development of VR and AR technology in education.

• Verizon.com
• Mobile Plans
• Mobile Devices
• Home Services
• Small and Medium Business
• Enterprise Solutions
• Verizon Connect
• Public Sector
• Partner Solutions
• Mobile Online Support
• Home Online Support
• Contact Customer Support
• Sign in to your Account
• Store Locator
• Account Security & Fraud Claims
• The Relay Blog
• The Verizon Story & Museum
• Fiber Optics
• Multi-Access Edge Compute (MEC)
• Welcome to the #NetworkLife
• Life at Verizon
• Culture & Diversity
• Search Open Roles
• Careers Site Map

• facebook-official
• California Privacy Notice
• Health Privacy Notice
• Terms & Conditions
• Important Consumer Information
• About Our Ads

Leveraging VR, AR & AI for CTE student success

The adoption of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) in education is transforming how we learn. These technologies help us to explore topics in a way that has never been possible before. AR allows us to project digital content into the real world and, used together with VR, students experience immersive simulations. AI can be used on its own or supporting VR and AR to provide immediate feedback and individualize learning .

Take a chance on these technologies; you may see increased engagement as students begin to interact with what they’re learning on a more personal level. VR, AR and AI can also help students who may struggle with comprehension. Perhaps most significant, technology can empower students by giving them more agency over the learning process.

VR, AR & AI: What are they?

Virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence technologies emerged some time ago now. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably. But while there is a convergence between the three, they each have distinct characteristics.

VR uses a computer to simulate a 3D image or environment, accessed using special equipment like a headset. Users can explore and interact with an artificial environment that seems real! The user may even experience the feeling of being in another place. Virtual reality experiences can also include social interactions with other individuals. For example, I can enter a virtual workplace using my VR headset and conduct a meeting with people around the world just as if we were in person. I can write on a whiteboard in that virtual space, retrieve files to put on the screen and more.

Augmented reality blends the physical and digital worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical things coexist with virtual elements. It overlays information and digital content onto the physical world. AR provides a live — direct or indirect — view of a physical, real-world environment where elements are augmented by sound, video, graphics or GPS data.

Finally, artificial intelligence (AI) can be defined as the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that require intelligence when performed by humans. AI includes machine learning, natural language processing, and speech recognition. Artificial intelligence is being used to help students better understand textbooks through applications such as quizzes based on one’s reading speed.

Technology changes the way we learn and work.

VR, AR, and AI are changing the way we learn in classrooms and in the workplace. Now, teachers can create immersive experiences that will help students build stronger understanding of technical and employability skill concepts. In Madison, Alabama, KTech Beta Academy partnered with Bob Jones High School Engineering Academy to prepare students for the workplace using VR that simulates on-the-job experiences. As a part of the program, students will have an opportunity to interview for an internship with Transfer VR. This demonstrates new intersections of technology, education and the workforce. VR, AR and AI can support CTE students as they develop technical and employability skills. 

Students benefit from opportunities to visit workplaces and other sites around the world through virtual reality field trips. They gain new perspectives, engage in hands-on learning activities, solve complex problems through collaboration, and learn to communicate effectively. Further, VR and AR can provide training programs that allow students to experiment with expensive and sometimes dangerous tools and materials. For example, fire science programs and law and public safety classes can use this tech to conduct skill development without putting students at risk during the training process.

What does this mean for the future of education?

What does this mean for the future of education? Consider how we can integrate these new technologies into career and technical education classrooms to improve student engagement, training and comprehension. VR, AR and AI make learning immersive, allowing us — all of us — to explore topics in greater detail.

“When building the infrastructure to support our students, do not forget the infinite space that the meta-universe will impact,” said Robert Marraccino. “Create new, open spaces so technology can be brought in and repurpose existing spaces for active learning.  The days of permanent hardwood lab benches and large power supplies that housed vacuum tubes are gone. Follow the career pathway into the meta-universe!”

Dell Technologies forecasted that the pace of change will continue so exponentially that adoption of AR and VR will become necessary. Knowledge of a career path will not suffice; the ability to gain new information in the moment will be more valuable. Consider the impact that statement may have on education delivery. As a result, the ability to access and obtain new information will be more beneficial than rote memorization of facts and figures.

There are many benefits of using VR, AR or AI in a classroom setting.

The most notable benefit, I mentioned earlier. Increase student engagement! VR and AR facilitate the creation of immersive learning experiences that allow students to explore topics in greater detail. Additionally, VR and AR may improve communication by providing a more interactive learning environment. Finally, AI can automate assessment tasks and provide personalized feedback to students, giving time back to educators.

What makes these technologies so unique is that they provide students with the opportunity to interact with ideas in ways that haven’t been possible before. Perhaps one of the most significant benefits is that technology can empower students by giving them more agency over the learning process. With these technologies, students can create avatars that look like them and interact with concepts in unique ways based on their interests. This increased agency motivates students and makes learning more fun.

This technology may also incentivize students — to have fun! And learn! — by implementing a rewards-based system. Yes, students complete quizzes and assessments on the platform(s). And they may also gain experience points or level up to unlock new features for their avatars.

VR, AR and AI offer much more than gaming. They’re already transforming the classroom and the workplace. And, while it’s true that technology cannot replace the nuances of the real-world, simulations offer significant benefits for career and technical education students who prepare to enter an evolving workforce.

Rachael Mann is a tech and education speaker and writer. Her work examines how emerging technologies like AI, VR, and AR are shaping the future of learning and what it means for schools. Follow her on Twitter.

• ACTE’s Mission
• Get Involved

Press Center

• Press Releases
• CTE in the News
• What Is CTE?
• State Fact Sheets
• Economic Impacts

Publications

• CTE Publications
• CTE Policy Watch Blog
• Take Action
• Advocacy Resources

ACTE® 1410 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 P: 800-826-9972 F: 703-683-7424

Professional Development

• ACTE Awards
• High-quality CTE Tools
• Leadership Development
• Online Learning

Explore how Microsoft's partnership with Khan Academy is enhancing the future of education with AI innovation and tools for teachers >

Watch Reimagine Education and learn what's new with responsible AI in education ›

Mixed Reality in your classroom

Expanding your classroom with mixed reality is easier than ever. With simple tools, students can immerse themselves in learning, and dive deeper into each subject.

Improvement in test scores among students using immersive technology

Increase in student engagement and retention when learning with immersive and 3D technologies

Expand your classroom with MR

Dive deeper into every subject with the immersive and engaging power of Mixed Reality.

Increase student engagement

Increase overall success and improve learning outcomes when students learn with 3D technologies.

Fostering social and emotional learning

Mixed Reality breaks through emotional barriers so students can experience life from new perspectives. With this immersive technology, you’ll create a setting for learners to collaborate and give them access to once out-of-reach experiences.

Windows 11 MR-ready devices

All the tools you need to get started are in your affordable, easy-to-manage Windows 11 device.

The results so far speak for themselves. There's been between a one- or two-letter grade improvement from pre-test to post-test scores, and students at WCU-Los Angeles had a 10 percent improvement in test scores compared to last year Segar Annamalai, Chief Information Officer

Bring your lessons to life

With Paint 3D, we are making it easy for everyone to create in 3D.

Mixed Reality tools for education

Windows 11 devices

Every Windows Mixed Reality-ready PC delivers a vivid, exhilarating experience.

Immersive headsets

Escape into the world of imagination with cutting edge, lightweight, and comfortable headsets from the most innovative hardware brands.

Mixed Reality apps

Students experience curriculum in completely new ways with Mixed Reality apps, bringing the content closer than ever in a truly engaging way.

Get Windows Mixed Reality for your school

Our MR kits are the perfect way to introduce your whole school to mixed reality.

Mixed Reality Apps for the classroom

Experience mixed reality apps with 25 volumes of free curriculum created by VictoryVR and nationally recognized teacher, Wendy Martin.

VR Dissection

Make ribbit-ing discoveries as you learn the fundamentals of frog anatomy in this virtual reality experience.

A combination of 360-degree video, spatial sound, and holographic scenery: you’ll believe you’re really there!

Microsoft Maquette

A VR prototyping tool for Steam VR compatible devices, that enables users to create prototypes in virtual reality.

Navigate through the human anatomy like never before in this collaborative, interactive 3D anatomy platform.

Explore even more MR devices

The best way to experience mixed reality is on the industry’s most innovative devices, designed with MR in mind.

Windows Mixed Reality-ready PCs

Windows Mixed Reality-ready PCs deliver a truly beautiful, immersive experience.

Microsoft Hololens 2

HoloLens 2 offers the most comfortable and immersive MR experience available—all with the reliability, security, and scalability of Microsoft.

• SCHOOL STORIES
• MICROSOFT LEARN EDUCATOR CENTER
• CONTACT SALES

Follow this page

• Microsoft Education Facebook page.
• Microsoft Education Twitter page.
• Microsoft Education Instagram.
• Microsoft Education Linked In page.
• Microsoft Education Pintrest page.

Share this page

• Share this page on Facebook.
• Share this page on Twitter.
• Share this page on Linked In.
• Share this page on Pintrest.

• People search sites
• Password Manager
• Mac Antivirus
• Payment Gateways
• Music Production Software
• Customer Experience Management Software
• Reseller Hosting
• Free Appointment Scheduling Software
• Press Release Distribution Services
• Grammar Checkers
• Survey Software
• Virtual Phone Number
• Dedicated Server Hosting Services
• Free Website Builders
• VPNs for Android
• Parental Control Software
• Content Delivery Networks
• VPNs for Chrome
• 3D Printing Software
• VPNs for Streaming
• Tenant Screening Services
• Windows VPS Hosting Services
• Antiviruses for Android
• Home Security Systems
• 3D Printers
• Color Laser Printers
• HDDs for Gaming
• UPSs for Gaming PCs
• External Hard Drives for Mac
• PC Surge Protectors
• Blood Pressure Monitors
• Dehumidifiers
• GPS Trackers
• In-ear Monitors
• Outdoor Projectors
• Budget Smartwatches
• Baby Monitors
• Slow Motion Cameras
• Drawing Tablets
• Hardware Wallets
• Electric Scooters
• DNA Test Kits
• Photo Printers
• 3D Scanners
• Microphones for Gaming
• Drones for Beginners
• PC Gaming Speakers
• Webcams for Streaming
• PC Controllers
• Wireless Outdoor Speakers
• Wireless Routers
• Cheap Bluetooth Speakers
• Gaming Desks
• Wi-Fi Adapters for Gaming
• Gaming Chairs
• Smartphones With Removable Battery
• Dumb Phones
• Small Smartphones
• Smartphones for Seniors
• Smartphones for Kids
• Smartphones for Music

Using AR and VR in Education: The Next-Gen Learning Tool

Updated: May 31,2022

KommandoTech earns commission via affiliate programs, meaning we may earn a fee when you click on our link and decide to purchase a product. However, every review we commit to is unbiased, objective, and produced before we ever join a company's affiliate program.

Table of Contents

Immersive, Engaging, and Effective Learning

Improve focus and eliminate distractions, reduce learning times, inclusivity and accessibility in education, k-12 education with virtual worlds, immersive technology and higher education sector, are we ready for immersive education, frequently asked questions.

Studies show that over 35% of augmented reality users are between the ages of 16 and 34. This means that VR and AR have the potential to enhance the learning process for these generations. For those students, state-of-the-art educational software that's presented in VR and AR apps and headsets can enable studying in ways that are more immersive, engaging, and effective.

Virtual and augmented reality can improve learning for students with short attention spans, make lessons more engaging, and help them pick up new information quickly. In addition, AR and VR in education can make the whole sector more inclusive by providing access to the same material for students with different learning styles. In this article, we’ll present some practical examples of how VR and AR technologies can improve education, also taking a look at the adoption stumbling blocks.

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are quickly becoming popular tools in a variety of sectors, including education. They bring immense learning benefits to students and teachers alike. The primary goal of these technologies is to provide new ways for students to interact with content and learn in a way that will make the subject matter easier to grasp and remember.

VR allows students to immerse themselves in 3D virtual environments, providing a captivating experience. For example, VR in education can be used to create realistic simulations that allow students to partake in experiences that wouldn’t be possible any other way, such as visiting another planet or going back in time.

Statistics about virtual reality acceptance show that out of 960 tested students, 97% were more interested in VR learning formats than tablets and classic pen and paper. This data suggests that most students are well aware of concepts such as the virtual environment, which could lead to easier adoption.

On the other hand, AR overlays digital information onto the real world, giving students a new way to view and interact with their surroundings. AR in education delivers contextual information and makes abstract concepts more tangible. For instance, a student studying chemistry might use AR to see how atoms are arranged in a molecule.

Together, VR and AR can be effective tools that make it possible for students to learn about topics that can’t be covered using traditional methods. Moreover, these technologies can improve the quality of learning when it comes to standard subjects such as history, scientific research, and STEM. As these technologies continue to develop, their role in education will become even more valuable.

Overcoming Current Educational Problems

Being part of immersive technology in education, augmented and virtual reality can solve several obstacles in the academic sphere. Specifically, they can improve student engagement for those with learning disabilities. By creating an all-encompassing environment where students quickly become engrossed in the lessons that are presented, these technologies help bypass certain limitations that characterize the traditional classroom.

Moreover, the AR-VR combination helps introduce practical lessons so that students can acquire the skills they will need to apply in the workplace. Owing to this kind of exercise, they can make a seamless transition to the professional setting. In turn, the education sector itself benefits from the AR and VR environment by turning to interactive training and developing it further to best suit the curriculum.

The average human attention span has decreased due to the presence of technology that now permeates every segment of our lives, as internet and social media stats have shown. This is especially true for young people who can benefit from immersive education techniques, as they are growing up in a world where they’re constantly bombarded with information from numerous sources.

Their decreased attention span can have a negative impact on the learning process, as it’s harder for students to focus on one task for an extended period. However, VR and AR can help counteract this effect as they create riveting learning experiences.

What’s more, VR and AR can also be used to break up long lessons into shorter, more manageable chunks. For example, a student struggling to focus on a lecture can put on a VR headset, instantly becoming absorbed in a related simulation. All in all, VR in schools can help the student understand the material and retain the information.

For example, let's take a peek at The VR Museum of Fine Art, a virtual reality app and educational tool available on the digital platform Steam . The software has a 1:1 scale for paintings and sculptures users can walk up to and check the in-game plaques with detailed information on the artist and the work of art. It allows students to feel like they are in an art museum, have fun, and learn along the way.

Both VR and AR can speed up learning by immersing students in environments and experiences that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to access. For example, with VR and AR, students can explore far-off lands or dive deep beneath the ocean's surface without even leaving the classroom.

HarvardX has developed an immersive educational VR tool that allows students to visit one of the biggest archaeological sites often inaccessible in real life - the Pyramids at the Giza Plateau. Children can visit these marvels of human engineering that are around 4,500 years old, checking out the Pyramids' tombs and unreachable tunnels.

Along the way, they can learn about the development of the pyramid, the decisions that builders made, and what this world wonder was used for, including rituals and ceremonies.

Additionally, these technologies allow learners to interact directly with information through visual cues, hot spots, and other interactive features. Froggipedia is an AR teaching technology and mobile educational app that gives students the opportunity to study a frog's movements, skeletal and organ structure and conduct augmented reality dissections. Teachers can engage students with this app to learn about frog anatomy in a few easy steps.

This software proves VR and AR are powerful tools that accelerate learning and enable deeper insights into challenging subjects. Ultimately, they offer a promising way to optimize the time spent on lessons without sacrificing quality or student involvement in ​​VR learning.

Another major issue facing education is the widening gap between students who come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, which can create an environment that is not inclusive. Luckily, VR and AR educational tools can help tackle this by providing educational resources in affordable and accessible formats.

One example is the AR app ARtGlass, developed by ARtGlass Inc. and funded by Microsoft's AI for Earth grants. Thanks to AR learning technology, students can explore AR exhibits of dinosaur skeletons in their natural size and learn about the evolution process. ARtGlass works with a mobile phone or AR headset, and it’s affordable and easy to use.

What's more, AR and VR can help create an inclusive learning environment for students with special needs. One of the benefits of AR and VR in education is that it can be used to support students with ADHD by improving their focus. Additionally, VR technology is used for treating various phobias, such as those of snakes and spiders, via Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) and Augmented Reality Exposure Therapy (ARET). Importantly, AR-VR combos can help alleviate the symptoms young people with ASD are experiencing.

Then, there’s VirtualSpeech, a virtual reality education app for smartphones that teaches and improves soft skills. Students can practice communication skills for public speaking, job interviews, or leadership. With this educational VR software, they can practice presentations and speeches before a simulated audience inside virtual reality. The app will evaluate each speaker’s soft skills and provide real-time feedback.

AR and VR technology offers a unique opportunity for K-12 education. By transferring students to a virtual world, this technology can provide a hands-on learning experience that is less reliant on textbooks and lectures. 

AR and VR-like immersive education can be used to create simulations of real-world scenarios, allowing students to experiment with different outcomes without fear of failure. In addition, augmented and virtual reality education can help motivate students by making learning interactive and fun. Imagine being able to place a virtual object on your school desk and see how it interacts with the real world around you. This could be used to help teach science concepts like gravity or friction.

Students can learn about the solar system by exploring their own backyard or gain a deeper understanding of historical events by walking through virtual replicas of great civilizations. They could visit ancient Greece via the VR study app and walk among the columns of the Parthenon. 

One area where AR and VR have already exerted a significant impact is the field of higher education. These technologies offer students new ways to engage with course material, explore complex concepts in more depth, and collaborate with peers from around the world.

For instance, virtual labs can be created with the help of VR and AR technologies, allowing students to conduct experiments without the need for physical equipment or hazardous chemicals. Implementing VR and AR in medical education is also beneficial as a supplemental learning tool to create simulations that help students practice intricate skills such as surgical procedures.

Microsoft has already created an augmented reality tool for HoloLens that’s used by surgeons or in classroom learning sessions. With this educational technology, students explore the bloodstream and parts of the human body to better understand our anatomy.

Additionally, AR and VR are being used to facilitate remote learning programs, allowing students in distant areas to access educational resources and interact with their peers and professors.

All of these advances in VR and AR technologies will provide critical educational benefits once they are implemented and adopted. Right now, that is not the case, as policymakers and educational institutions need to resolve several major impediments:

• Lack of funding: AR and VR technology is still relatively new and expensive, meaning that many schools are unable to purchase the necessary equipment.
• Insufficient educational content: Although there are a growing number of AR and VR apps available, most are designed for entertainment rather than education. Furthermore, creating new content for learning with VR can be time-consuming and expensive.
• Teaching professors and lecturers how to use augmented and virtual reality in education: In specific instances, educators will have to act as developers of AR and VR content to provide the most immersive and easy-to-adopt lessons.
• Research methods for removing potential health concerns: VR can be distracting and overwhelming for some students. Some studies have shown that extended use of AR and VR can cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea. As a result, educators need to be aware of the challenges to using AR and VR in education, potential risks, and correct implementation before incorporating AR and VR into the classroom.
• Update current IT infrastructure: most VR headsets require a powerful computer, especially a graphics card that can handle complex requirements.

The Future of Student Engagement

Augmented and virtual reality have the potential to revolutionize education as we know it. These technologies can help students learn in new, more immersive ways that are both effective and engaging. AR and VR can also help teachers deliver lessons in a more interactive way, make remote learning easier, and develop a more inclusive curriculum.

However, there are several challenges to be resolved before adopting VR and AR in education, such as the lack of funding, relevant content, research, and infrastructure. Even so, the future looks bright, and these technologies have the capacity to improve the way students learn.

VR and AR are used in education as supplemental learning tools, allowing students to engage with immersive simulations and explore complex concepts.

There is no definitive answer, as both AR and VR can offer unique educational benefits. AR may be a better fit for subjects like anatomy or physics, while VR is more suitable for history or geography. Ultimately, it’s the professors who should respond to questions about VR and AR in education, as they will need to implement this new form of teaching and define the learning goals for each student.

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital information on the real world, while virtual reality (VR) creates a simulated environment that can be experienced through digital devices. AR and VR are often used in gaming and entertainment, but they also have potential applications in education.

When it comes to using VR to educate students, there are many ways in which AR can be incorporated into classroom teaching. Teachers could use AR apps to create interactive lesson plans, deliver lectures through AR headsets, or provide students with AR textbooks and materials. The key is to find the right balance between AR and traditional instruction methods.

AR is often used in education to create augmented reality textbooks or interactive learning activities. Teachers can use AR for virtual field trips, digital lesson plans, or lectures which they can deliver through AR headsets. It can also be incorporated into lectures and classroom lessons to help students engage with the material in new ways.

Further Reading

Your email address will not be published.

While Damjan started his career in humanities, his interests quickly moved on to the tech and IT world. VPNs, antiviruses, firewalls, password managers - cybersecurity is what he knows best. When Damjan’s not losing hair over the dwindling of our collective sense of tech safety, you’ll find him looking for solace in 100-hour-long RPGs and rage-inducing MOBAs.

• Specs for New NVIDIA 2060 12 GB GPU Revealed
• FSR Plugin Now Available for Unreal Engine 4
• NVIDIA Releases New Display Driver, Adding DLSS Support for 28 Games
• Oppo Patents Multi-Directional Smartphone Camera Design

KommandoTech is your ultimate resource on all things tech. We find good deals, amazing gadgetry, and sturdy software. We dissect and subject them to military-grade scrutiny in order to give you the best of the best.

Advertiser Disclosure: KommandoTech is an independent review site dedicated to providing accurate information about various tech-related products and services. KommandoTech participates in a series of affiliate partnerships - it’s visitors’ click on links that cover the expenses of running this site.

How and where the offers appear on the site can vary according to the partnership terms. Affiliate partnerships may affect where a particular product is listed within a review, but they don’t affect the review’s content in any way. KommandoTech’s in-house writing team writes all the site’s content after in-depth research, and advertisers have no control over the personal opinions expressed by team members, whose job is to stay faithful to the truth and remain objective.

© 2022 COPYRIGHT KOMMANDOTECH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

VR, AR and AI will Transform Universities. Here’s How.

News article

Online Education

New technology.

Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are on the doorstep of education, and without a doubt, they will change how we teach and learn. The classroom of the future will be a hyper-immersive experience that will cater to an experiential learning environment through a purely digital ecosystem, fostering teaching and learning that closely mimics in-person interaction.

Whether simulating full environments with Virtual Reality, blending digital and real world elements with Augmented Reality, or utilizing machine learning with Artificial Intelligence, new technologies are poised to affect education at all levels, having a particularly profound effect on professional and continuing education as well as distance and online learning. As a higher education leader, are you ready to embrace these transformative teaching technologies?

From Virtual Tours to Medical Marvels

Virtual Reality (VR) applications are expected to grow quickly in education. And why not? Arguably the most established new reality-tech, VR has been around for decades and after years of popularity with the gaming industry, market analysis from Grandview Research suggests that the VR market size will hit $48.5 billion by 2025. Using this technology that simulates immersive experiences, hundreds of colleges and universities already offer virtual reality campus tours. But the potential impact of VR for online learning programs is massively significant, especially as the cost to attend post graduate studies continues to increase. VR allows us to bridge the gap between educators and learners. Distance learning tools can put educators and students together in the same room with digital representations of themselves—teachers can teleport into the VR world and guide students through their experiences.

According to ELearning Inside , the cost of VR consumer devices has been dropping with the development of VR headsets powered by mobile phones, along with VR compatible computers that now cost under $1,000. With these developments in mind, the implementation of VR technology is finally becoming more cost-effective for a range of institutions.

One of the problems in distance learning is students feeling a lack of presence; they miss out on interacting with fellow students and their teachers. As such, it is easy to see how a student could become despondent and quickly lose interest if they struggle to understand a concept and there is nobody available to help them. However, VR could change all that. Instead of sitting alone in front of a screen, they could pop on a headset and be in a virtual classroom with students and a teacher. Distance learning would suddenly have a sense of presence and students would perhaps feel more like they are “taking part.”

I recently visited Averett University in Danville, Virginia, where I used their VR system to “virtually” explore the inner workings of the human body. Using the proper gestures, students could zoom into the chest to see the chest muscles then click to see the inner cavity. From there, they can go deeper to see inside the heart, all the way to the cellular level. In this immersive experience, information was written out to explain the organs and anatomy alongside the VR exploration It was an amazing experience that demonstrated to me just how much the way students study the human body is being completely transformed.

Medical students can also use VR to simulate real-life surgery. Using virtual worlds to simulate medical procedures allow errors to be made without the catastrophic consequences of real procedures. Imagine the impact this can have on professional studies or continuing education programs where students are looking to build specific skills. On the topic of skill building through VR, a University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Professor of Physical Therapy and Anatomy commented to the UCSF News Center that “[virtual reality] has the potential to take us to the next level of experience so we can go from general anatomy learning to an environment where anatomy has been disrupted and the student has to act on it. This technology takes anatomy learning and applies it almost immediately.”

Virtual solutions have also been developed that allow students to forgo expensive travel by practicing their language skills in VR scenarios with AI-powered animated characters. Students can feel less inhibited than in real-life interactions to improve their language skills and receive real-time feedback. In one article by Educause illustrating uses of VR in educational settings, the author notes that in Nicole Mills’s French language and culture classes, “students meet native speakers at parties in their homes and eavesdrop on conversations in Parisian cafés, all without leaving Cambridge. Cultural immersion is a tried-and-true element of language instruction, and this project brings students into the 11th arrondissement of Paris through VR film narratives.” By making remarkable experiences available to students, VR technology can transform an array of disciplines.

What was once purely science fiction, like Tony Stark of the Iron Man movies creating the Iron Man suit using virtual reality, will be commonplace in the future. Even today, university medical researchers are exploring how VR can help treat everything from agoraphobia to burn wounds to stroke. Researchers creating new drugs, robotics or machines can experience the inner workings through modern VR. If adopted properly, with the right network capacity, VR can drive better research and learning experiences, and can do so in more affordable ways.

Distance Learning, Now Up Close

Moving this type of immersive learning experience further, augmented reality (AR) drives student engagement by simulating superimposed, artificial objects in real-world environments and enhancing their perception of reality. Students can explore, experience, or be involved in virtual objects as if they are present in that environment. Look at the popularity of this technology in applications like Pokémon Go or enhanced shopping experiences. Today’s students are accustomed to the oscillation between an online and in-person experience. In the future, teaching strategies will take advantage of these experiences to improve student engagement and success rates.

From STEM to the humanities, any subject matter can be enhanced by AR. Imagine engineering classes where students learning about jet propulsion can scan their textbook to see the Thrust Equation come to life with a rocket’s takeoff, or learn what happens if they mix the wrong organic compounds in chemistry class without being exposed to an unsafe lab environment. In other classes, students can see historic wars come to life, travel back in time to see FDR sitting on their desk delivering his speeches during World War II, watch the Trojan War happen around them, or simply land on the moon as astronauts. Students can already use AR in astronomy studies by merely pointing their phones at the night sky and letting software visualize planets and galaxies using location-based technology. Duke University , for example, has had humanities classes explore ancient buildings or archeological sites. Students are also able to access a virtual dissection table to learn about anatomical functions at the Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California, which allows them to navigate layers of vertical tissue. Similar technology developed by MEDIVIS for medical schools, nursing schools, and hospitals uses AR for the teaching of clinical anatomy and physiology and for advanced surgical visualization and planning.

A new trend for distance and continuing learners is a “blended” model, where students visit campus for a week or a weekend. Augmented reality applications can significantly help these first-time visitors. Similar to the future of Google Maps , a visitor can get directions to their destination, but along the way use their camera to gather information on buildings and activities, bringing the campus “to life.” On the visitor’s walk to the engineering lab, they can see that the building on their right has a dance class, or a debate club meeting at 9:00 p.m., they can walk up to walls listing the college’s benefactors to get biographical information on the donors, creating an experience that helps build affinity and sense of belonging to the school.

These solutions can be implemented both in the classroom and throughout online learning programs, creating new ways for students of all learning types to engage in their course content. Robots have even been developed that are controlled by students remotely, allowing them to not only witness a live classroom but also move around and navigate the space. While tabletop versions are often used by student athletes to avoid missing a class while traveling for games or matches, more full-scale robots are allowing students to fully participate in additional course activities. With AR’s immersive experiences, you have a more engaged class. The result: improved student outcomes.

Leading Higher Education Through Artificial Intelligence

Leading the expanding capabilities of AI is deep learning, which applies machine learning tools and techniques to solving just about any problem that requires “thought” – human or artificial. Harnessing machine learning technology, much like the AI tools used in self-driving cars or image recognition, educational applications span from giving computers “vision,” to speech recognition, machine translation, medical diagnosis, etc. I believe that deep learning is the new scientific infrastructure for research and learning that universities would be wise to embrace and lead. It has profound research applications in higher education and professional studies:

• Researchers at one university are putting advanced image recognition (“computer vision”) to work, detecting one of the most aggressive, but treatable in early stages, types of cancer. Melanoma is not only be deadly, but it can also be difficult to screen accurately. The team trained a neural network to isolate features (texture and structure) of moles and suspicious lesions for better recognition.
• Researchers at some of the top university medical research facilities, including University of California, Irvine, are working with gastroenterologists on improving colonoscopies . The scope of the future will pull in massive amounts of data to not only identify polyp growth, but also predict future polyp growth. The scope would show “green, orange and red” boxes around safe or potentially harmful growths.
• AI teaching assistants have been used in undergraduate computing courses at Georgia Tech for several years. AI TAs can’t answer deep questions about content, but they are useful because students tend to ask the same questions again and again. Questions about assessment or deadlines are easily handled by AI, and students cannot immediately tell the difference between an AI and human TA.

What Do We Need to Make This Happen?

Indeed, high costs remain a challenge, but the day is not far, I believe, when AI and VR/AR tools will be as accessible as smartphones and desktop computers. We will just need to make sure we have the right infrastructure: sufficient wireless network capacity  to support these astounding applications, PCs with enough computing power, and physical spaces that are suitable for the unique requirements of immersive experiences. We tend to forget that each device that enables fully-immersive technology—sensors, cameras, microphones, smartphones, glasses and others that have yet to be dreamed up—are all connected. And on the scale of bandwidth rapaciousness, VR/AR and Deep Learning are on the hungrier end of the technology used in higher education. Higher education institutions need to start thinking about their own VR/AR and AI adoption: what it might look like and what it might require in terms of infrastructure and support.

The ability to fully leverage these technologies will enable higher education institutions to transform learning and the campus at large to meet student needs. From personalized programs and more effective distance learning to stronger research capabilities and a more connected student life, the innovations of VR, AR, and deep learning can improve student success and satisfaction exponentially. Allowing students to more closely experience their academic focus in these ways will only bring more value to higher education. The array of offerings, when paired with the right disciplines and courses, can help universities fulfill student expectations in an ever-expanding technological world. Reality in any form comes at you fast. It was only about three to five years ago that BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), where employers allow staff to access company information on personal devices, was regarded as a new trend. Compounded by students’ expectation for access on an array of devices and personalized platforms VR/AR and AI are poised to transform teaching and learning. And it’s not too late to get ready, starting now.

Rajiv Shenoy is the Chief Technology Officer at Apogee, higher education’s largest managed technology services provider. Rajiv has spoken at over 50 industry events and has visited 400 universities and met with their leaders to share technology’s impact on university strategic goals. He joined Apogee when his digital media company, OrcaTV, was acquired in 2016. Currently, he serves on his local school district’s Advisory Board and is host of the podcast The Internet of Learning Podcast

Select Country

Please enable JavaScript This site will not function correctly without JavaScript enabled.

Downloadable VR & AR Documents and Resources

The following collection of reports, videos, data sheets, case studies and sample ClassVR lesson plans are free to download and use within your organisation.

Introduction to ClassVR

50 Creative ways to use ClassVR

Download this practical and inspiring guide to find out how teachers from across the world are implementing virtual reality into their lessons.

Creating Content to use with ClassVR

Alongside the 1000s of educational VR & AR resources included in ClassVR, teachers can create and upload their own content for even more learning opportunities, download this document to learn...

ClassVR Datasheet: a world of new experiences

Download this document to learn more about the award-winning VR & AR technology for schools, ClassVR.

ClassVR: Improving Road Safety

Discover how virtual reality can help young people and driver improve and learn about road safety in a hard-hitting way.

Top 10 ways to use ClassVR

Download this resource to discover the 10 Top Ways schools are using VR & AR in the classroom.

ClassVR: Setup and User Guide

Get started on your ClassVR headsets with ease by following our simple set-up and user guide.

ClassVR: VR & AR in education

Learn more about our complete VR & AR system for the classroom and how you can create engaging and immersive experiences for your students.

ClassVR Headset Interface: Introduction to the holodeck & gesture controls

Download this short guide to understand how to use the standard ClassVR headset as a student.

WHITE PAPER: A Guide To AR & VR In Education

Learn how implementing VR & AR in education can impact learning and student engagement in the classroom.

Resources, Worksheets and Lesson Plans

Sample VR and AR Lesson Plans

Download a lesson plan and worksheet activity to discover more ways to implement ClassVR into your lessons.

ClassVR Portal: Complete list of all available resources & experiences

Download this resources to discover what VR & AR content is included with an active ClassVR Portal subscription.

Augmented Reality Sample Worksheet: The Heart

The sample augmented reality worksheet will trigger a 3D model of a heart when used with a ClassVR headset.

VR Sample Lesson Plan: Is there life on Mars?

This virtual reality sample lesson plan provides a great example of how ClassVR can be incorporated into the curriculum.

Request Your FREE ClassVR Demo Today!

Interested in introducing virtual reality to your school?

Experience the world’s most awarded VR & AR solution for schools, ClassVR, by booking a no obligation demo today and learn how you can enhance your lessons with this exciting technology!

Case Studies and Testimonials

Virtual Reality Guest Blog: West Baton Rouge Parish Schools (Louisiana, US)

Dr. Tammy Seneca is the Supervisor of Information Systems and Educational Technology and Stephanie Thompson is the District Technology Facilitator and Professional Developer at West Baton Rouge Parish Schools in...

Virtual Reality Guest Blog: Spaulding Academy and Family Services (New Hampshire, US)

Charley Suter is a Digital Learning Specialist and Jen Benjamin is an Occupational Therapist at Spaulding Academy & Family Services in Northfield, New Hampshire. This case study describes how the...

Virtual Reality Guest Blog: Lunder School of Education, Thomas College (Maine, US)

Dr. Pamela Thompson is the Chair of the Lunder School of Education at Thomas College in Waterville, Maine. This guest blog outlines how the school is re-envisioning teacher education and...

Virtual Reality Case Study: Ysgol Bryn Teg (Wales, UK)

Richard Knight is a teacher at Ysgol Bryn Teg in Wales. This case study looks at how the school is opening up accessibility and building empathy with virtual reality.

Virtual Reality Case Study: Sioux Central School (Iowa, US)

Troy Thams is the K-12 technology Instructor and STEM Club Sponsor at Sioux Central School in Sioux Rapids, Iowa. This case study focuses on how the school are using virtual...

Virtual Reality Case Study: Winton Woods City Schools (Ohio, US)

Jennifer Haller is an Instructional Technology Consultant for Winton Woods City Schools in Cincinnati, Ohio. This case study looks at how the schools are integrating ClassVR and CoSpaces to deliver...

Virtual Reality Case Study: Donegal School District (Pennsylvania, US)

Megan-Hull Burg is the Instructional Technology Coach at Donegal School District in Pennsylvania. This case study looks at how the district has effectively implemented ClassVR across the district.

Virtual Reality Case Study: National Marine Aquarium

This case study looks at how virtual reality is being used to provide students with a much greater understanding of what the marine world can offer.

Virtual Reality Case Study: Marine Discovery Centre

Tim Hoile is Director at the Marine Discovery Centre, South Australia. This case study looks at how virtual reality is being used to provide students with a much greater understanding...

Virtual Reality Case Study: Crowlands Primary School (Romford, UK)

Anthony Isaac is Crowlands Primary School Computing Co-ordinator. This case study looks at how modern technology can enhance and enrich students’ written language development

Virtual Reality Case Study: St Wilfrid’s Academy (Blackburn, UK)

Nathan Ashman is St Wilfrid’s Academy Lead Teacher for New Technologies. This case study looks at how modern technology can enhance and enrich students’ learning experience.

Virtual Reality Case Study: Hill View Primary School (Gloucestershire, UK)

Andrew Shelton is a year 6 / PPA Teacher at Hillview Primary School in Gloucester. This case study looks at the diverse range of activities and experiences that virtual reality...

Teacher Testimonials: ClassVR Customer Quotes & Feedback

A selection of eight short testimonials from a variety of school teachers who have recently rolled out ClassVR for use with their students.

Virtual Reality Case Study: English Martyrs’ Catholic Academy School (Nottingham, UK)

Kate Mann is the Headteacher at English Martyrs’ Catholic Academy in Nottingham. This case study looks at the issue of student engagement within the classroom at the school.

Virtual Reality Case Study: Barry Island Primary School (Wales, UK)

Dominic Broad is a year 6 Teacher from Barry Island Primary School in South Wales. This case study documents the experiment of using virtual reality as a stimulus to story...

Virtual Reality Case Study: Penybont Primary School (Wales, UK)

Anna Alford is a year 5/6 Teacher from Penybont Primary School in South Wales. This case study examines the impact of virtual reality on creative writing within the school.

Request Your ClassVR Quote Today!

Discover how you can introduce ClassVR, the all-in-one VR & AR solution for schools, by requesting your free quote today!

Experience The Power Of VR For Education

We are using cookies to give you the best possible experience on our website. You can see more detail about which cookies are being used or turn them off in settings.

Privacy Overview

This website uses a number of cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs a number of functions, such as recognising you when you return to our website, and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Please navigate through the sections on the right to learn more detail about the specific cookies that are in use on this website, where you can disable them if you wish. Please note that doing so, may cause certain features on the website to stop working correctly.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses products including Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website for our visitors.

Cookie Policy

Please see the following section within our Privacy Policy, for more information about our Cookie Policy

Publications

On-demand strategy, speaking & workshops, latest articles, write for us, library/publications.

• Competency-Based Education
• Early Learning
• Equity & Access
• Personalized Learning
• Place-Based Education
• Post-Secondary
• Project-Based Learning
• SEL & Mindset
• STEM & Maker
• The Future of Tech and Work

Dr. Carl Gombrich on Interdisciplinary Learning and Nurturing Curiosity

Town hall recap: health science pathways, dr. shari camhi on purpose, media literacy and a decade of district leadership, juan jose gonzalez and gina schuyler on community college networks and radical dual credit, recent releases.

Health Science Pathways Guide

New Pathways Handbook: Getting Started with Pathways

Unfulfilled Promise: The Forty-Year Shift from Print to Digital and Why It Failed to Transform Learning

The Portrait Model: Building Coherence in School and System Redesign

Green Pathways: New Jobs Mean New Skills and New Pathways

Support & Guidance For All New Pathways Journeys

Unbundled: Designing Personalized Pathways for Every Learner

Credentialed Learning for All

AI in Education

For more, see Publications |  Books |  Toolkits

Microschools

New learning models, tools, and strategies have made it easier to open small, nimble schooling models.

Green Schools

The climate crisis is the most complex challenge mankind has ever faced . We’re covering what edleaders and educators can do about it. 

Difference Making

Focusing on how making a difference has emerged as one of the most powerful learning experiences.

New Pathways

This campaign will serve as a road map to the new architecture for American schools. Pathways to citizenship, employment, economic mobility, and a purpose-driven life.

Web3 has the potential to rebuild the internet towards more equitable access and ownership of information, meaning dramatic improvements for learners.

Schools Worth Visiting

We share stories that highlight best practices, lessons learned and next-gen teaching practice.

View more series…

About Getting Smart

Getting smart collective, impact update, the future of vr & ar in education.

By: Helen Vlasova

Did you know that there are 7 different learning styles: verbal, visual, musical/auditory, physical/kinesthetic, logical/mathematical, social, solitary, and a combination of a few of these; and moreover, each student, as a unique individual, finds different types of these learning styles most useful to them?

Considering that as educators, teachers already have many different roles to fulfill, like controllers, organizers, creators, prompters, and assessors, on top of the fact that the number of schools that are experiencing overcrowding continues to increase, it is more than obvious that teachers are in desperate need of tools that will help them not only ease the process of learning, but also modernize it, bring it closer to the student’s interests, and adjust it in a way that students with different learning styles will find the lesson equally useful and beneficial.

Implementing technology such as VR—virtual reality—and AR—augmented reality—into classrooms allows educators to achieve this goal. That’s why many educators predict a bright future for VR and AR in education.

VR & AR are Becoming the Future of Education

Educators prefer using VR in their classrooms

Statistics from a National Survey are showing that 90% of educators agree that VR technology is quite an effective way of providing differentiated and personalized learning experiences for students. One of the main struggles teachers face is capturing and maintaining students’ attention, and VR and AR are not only enabling teachers to capture kid’s attention, but also to teach in a more exciting, productive way that at the same time eases the explanation process and is more fun for the kids.

Education sector becomes a great investor in VR technology

In classrooms that have implemented VR and AR as part of their education, there is increased interest. We already mentioned why teachers like using it, but studies also confirm that students—97% of them—actually voted that they would attend a class/course with VR. Considering the current situation with COVID-19 where kids need to learn from home, as well as the inevitable need of reforming the school system, many see AI, AR, and VR as the future of education.

Education is expected to be the 4th largest sector that will invest in VR investment. Many studies including this one done by Statista are predicting that by 2025, VR in education is to be a $700 million industry.

VR & AR are Changing the Educational System

Help students focus

The number of students experiencing difficulties concentrating and staying focused while learning is constantly rising. At universities, college student’s mental health statistics show that students face difficulties focusing and are facing other mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Even at a much younger age, statistics show students experiencing difficulties staying focused, with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reporting  that the diagnoses of ADHD among K-12 schoolers are continuing to rise with over 5.7 million children currently being diagnosed. Moreover, children born in the age of digital technology are continuously exposed to stimulations from technology devices and the internet which contributes to the rapid decrease of their attention span.

VR and AR technology during classes help students concentrate on literally what is in front of their eyes, and in a way, they are being ‘forced’ to interact with their studies and exclude any potential side stimuli. The VR and AR technology are making the lectures, books, and exercises more immersive, interactive, riveting, and engaging, and with that, they are becoming a feasible solution for seizing students’ focus and attention.

Eliminate language barriers

With multicultural societies, especially at higher education levels, language differences can be a significant challenge as students may not be able to understand the material and have difficulties with assignments and this could ultimately influence their performance.

Language translation is one of the features that could easily be built into the software of VR. This will allow the VR classroom realizations to potentially be experienced in any language which will eliminate the language barriers and all the difficulties that may come from learning in a foreign language.

Ease and improve the learning process

While on average, a regular student can remember 30% of what they hear and 20% of what they see; in traditional classrooms where teachers are using only images and auditory materials students oftentimes can understand only so much from pictures and explanations when it comes to complex concepts, theories, and subjects.

This is because albeit they may see the thing being explained on an image, they still have to visualize it and create a perception of it in their own minds. With VR and AR, they can easily explore different realities and angles of the thing they are learning; instead of hearing, reading, and just seeing a two-dimensional picture, they get to learn that material through experience. Statistics confirm that students remember 90% of the material if it is learned through experience. This confirms further that VR and AR are improving the learning process.

Contribute to inclusivity

VR and AR can also contribute to creating a more inclusive classroom, as VR and AR can be beneficial for students who have various disabilities. Some models of VR and AR are specifically designed for different types of disabilities and are enabling students to simply regulate their devices and blend in the classes, and not be left out:

• VR Augmented Aid—offers different applications like the ability to manipulate contrasts, alter text sizes, or add audio commentary which can help students who have visual impairments regulate their VR according to their specific needs and still be part of the class.
• SignAloud gloves —in combination with VR are allowing students to communicate in sign language and translate it into a human speech.

Focus on exploration and practice

With AR especially, students become more interactive as they start focusing on practice and not just theory. If traditional classrooms focus on theories, with VR and AR the focus shifts to learning through practice rather than theory. This further increases the students’ interests; by using this technology students get to experience and not only hear the material, which makes them more curious and interested in the subject.

Moreover, without the pressure and competitiveness that classrooms often can bring, students feel more encouraged and empowered to learn and practice with these devices, through simply exploring at their own pace.

For more, see:

• 15 AR and VR Immersive Learning Tools
• Exploring the Future of Education through EdTech, Neuroscience and Literacy
• Education Technology is a Global Opportunity

Helen Vlasova is the Managing Editor at the educational information website admissionsly.com .

Stay in-the-know with innovations in learning by signing up for the weekly  Smart Update .

Guest Author

Discover the latest in learning innovations.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Related Reading

Dreamscape Learn Pod Unveiled at ASU+GSV Summit

How do we prepare students to flourish in a VUCA future?

How Educators Can Prepare for the Future of Work

The Time For Futures Is Now

Apurva desai.

AR VR will become more affordable as new head-up displays and apps become available that enable large-scale immersion at a lower cost. Immersive technology has the potential to be the most visible educational breakthrough.

Kathryn Cusano

AR learning is fantastic, thanks for this article! There are some really good AR resources that I know of on www.twinkl.com if anyone is looking for free activities :) If you're interested, I really liked this anatomical model and this one of the Earth's core: https://www.twinkl.com/resource/t-ar-3-human-heart-quick-look https://www.twinkl.com/resource/t-ar-6-structure-of-the-earth-quick-look-no-file

Thank you for sharing this information with us for which i was looking for long time

Amy Saunders

Wow, this is such an enlightening article! I totally appreciate your explanation on how virtual reality could make any classroom session even more convenient for students and teachers alike through engaging visuals. My son is a college student who's been asked by his lecturer to make a presentation on digital reality theory next week. I'll make sure he refers to the right expert to help him resolve the matter later. https://digitalrealitytheory.com/

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. All fields are required.

Nominate a School, Program or Community

Stay on the cutting edge of learning innovation.

Subscribe to our weekly Smart Update!

Smart Update

What is pbe (spanish), designing microschools download, download quick start guide to implementing place-based education, download quick start guide to place-based professional learning, download what is place-based education and why does it matter, download 20 invention opportunities in learning & development.

• Newsletters

IE 11 Not Supported

Vr can make school more immersive, but accessibility issues remain, panelists at the recent ar/vr policy conference said ar/vr tools have a unique ability to broaden participation and engagement in stem courses, provided the tools are created and adopted with accessibility in mind..

By Industry

By integration, knowledge center, virtual reality, augmented reality, and 3d technologies in the education industry: how are learning processes revolutionizing.

Knowledge transfer, which is the basis of contemporary education, is essential in modern society. Information and communication technologies are increasingly relevant in the teaching and learning processes. Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and 3D technologies have become applicable in all sectors that integrate education processes. These technologies have helped learners globally to internalize complex issues, apply knowledge to problem-solving, and engage with diverse cultures in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

VR in the Education Industry

VR has become relevant in education industries due to its positive impacts on learning and teaching initiatives. For example, Nick Babich affirms that, in the age of digital devices, we have the chance to develop better learning processes through technology. In this case, VR is a natural step to achieving evolution and high quality in elementary and higher education. We will see in detail what is the role of VR in education.

What is Virtual Reality (VR)?

VR is a computer-generated simulation that alters perceptions of reality. In a strict sense, VR comprises an environment of simulated scenes and objects that seem real. Through specific technological devices, such as glasses or helmets, an individual can experience alternative realities to his own and assume them as genuine.   Because VR creates alternate realities that feel very real, it has been used in education to facilitate the learning of complex subjects and create bonds between students culturally different. Through virtual reality, it is possible to teach respect for cultural diversity and promote the acceptance of differences.

The Role of VR in Education for Teachers

Virtual reality is revolutionizing the education industry and the role of teachers. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers used minimum technology and applied pedagogies in a face-to-face classroom. Today, with the increasingly accentuated transition towards virtual education spaces, teachers want to focus on facilitating the transmission of content to students via technology. Therefore, VR allows students and teachers to explore content jointly and generate collaborative knowledge.

Benefits of Virtual Reality (VR) in Education contexts:

A better sense of place:.

Augmented reality has brought positive impact to education since it has made it possible to enhance learning processes in the classroom. For instance, AR has been of particular interest in geometry teaching since it allows for explaining basic operations, such as perimeters, areas, and diameters. In this section, we will explain everything about the application of AR to education and its benefits.

Scale learning experiences:

VR provides spaces for scale experiences that lead to practical learning.

Learn by doing:

Students can learn by doing when using VR goggles.

Visual learning:

Students can become visual learners through VR educational technologies. If they consider it relevant, they can replace books for VR to visualize complex issues.

Augmented Reality (AR) in the Education Industry

What is AR?

AR is a complex set of technologies that allow users to visualize an essential part of the world through technological devices that collect information from the environment, such as cell phones and tablets. Generally, AR overlays images, sounds, videos, and graphics within a given environment. In doing this, AR includes significant components, such as cameras and sensors, processing, projection, and reflection.   Cameras and sensors detect an image and measure the distance between two objects in AR. As a result, users obtain a perspective on the reality they observe. Subsequently, virtual information is added to the users' perspective with projection and reflection. Therefore, AR merges the users' perspective on reality with virtual elements that complement their view.

How is AR Applied?

Presentations:.

Presenters can use AR to deliver messages to students and engage with them by making them part of the whole presentation. For example, teachers can make students appreciate specific concepts or graphics during a lesson.

Prototyping:

AR can be used in prototyping. For instance, students may want to use CAD modeling to promote engagement related to specific ideas. In addition, AR can be an excellent tool in UX-UI design teaching.

Research and development:

Companies and universities can use AR as essential pieces of their research and development projects.

Training and learning:

AR promotes training and learning activities in companies, businesses, universities, and schools.

Benefits of AR in Education

AR benefits education and classrooms in particular ways because they add innovation and creativity to pedagogical processes. Through AR, obsolete teaching techniques may be replaced by more innovative pedagogies. For example, classes can be combined with augmented reality devices to increase student understanding of a specific topic.   Furthermore, manuals and lessons can also be supplemented with apps to make learning enriching. Undoubtedly, a teacher who applies augmented reality in her classes will never have bored students. On the contrary, students will be increasingly motivated to discover that augmented reality meets their learning needs through technology.   The introduction of AR in education makes classes more interactive, and students understand topics better. If properly incorporated, AR can reduce teaching costs and allow the teacher to approach various content in a revolutionary way.

VR and AR technologies have revolutionized learning methods and traditional teaching practices. Today, these technologies have reinforced the transition from in-site education based on printed books to more interactive pedagogical approaches involving significant amounts of data and complex issues.   These technology-enabled methods reinforce students' commitment to their knowledge-producing processes and enable them to quickly learn challenging matters in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.   These technologies have even played a decisive role in creating inclusive and diverse educational environments since they facilitate students' contact with different cultures and people.   Consequently, it is essential to continue promoting the incorporation of virtual and augmented reality technologies in curricula and, through this, collaborations between educational institutions and the private sector in pedagogical efforts.

Want to Learn More?

Ask about Vection Technologies’ solutions, professional services or anything else. We are ready to help.

• Bachelor’s Degrees
• Master’s Degrees
• Doctorate Degrees
• Certificate Programs
• Nursing Degrees
• Cybersecurity
• Human Services
• Science & Mathematics
• Communication
• Liberal Arts
• Social Sciences
• Computer Science
• Admissions Overview
• Tuition and Financial Aid
• Incoming Freshman and Graduate Students
• Transfer Students
• Military Students
• International Students
• Early Access Program
• About Maryville
• Our Faculty
• Our Approach
• Our History
• Accreditation
• Tales of the Brave
• Student Support Overview
• Online Learning Tools
• Infographics

Home / Blog

Augmented Reality in Education: Interactive Classrooms

March 12, 2021 

Tables of Contents

What is augmented reality?

Benefits of augmented reality in education, augmented reality in education examples, augmented reality in higher education, augmented reality apps for education.

The Pew Research Center reports that  mobile technology use  has more than doubled in the past decade from 35% in 2011 to 81% in 2019, with smartphone use especially prevalent among young Americans — about 96% of people ages 18 to 29 own a smartphone. These trends are creating opportunities for using augmented reality in education.

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital information such as sounds, videos, and graphics on top of the real-world environment. AR is often confused with virtual reality (VR), a technology that creates entirely artificial environments. Together, these technologies are collectively known as extended reality (XR), and they are driving change across industries: IDC reports that the  AR/VR market  is expected to grow from $16.8 billion in 2019 to $160 billion by 2023.

Industries such as engineering, manufacturing, and space exploration commonly use AR in business applications such as research and development. With the emergence of new technologies and widespread adoption of smartphones, educators are increasingly expected to use AR in the classroom.

Augmented reality superimposes sounds, videos, and graphics onto an existing environment. It uses four main components to superimpose images on current environments: cameras and sensors, processing, projection, and reflection.

Each of these components provides an individual function. For example, cameras and sensors can detect an image’s depth or calculate the distance between two objects before superimposing digital content atop the user’s view. Projection and reflection add virtual information over what a user sees; for example, a method known as projection mapping enables AR apps to digitally overlay video onto any physical surface.

As for processing and transmitting data, limited bandwidth and latency of wireless networks have typically posed challenges to wide-ranging adoption of AR. But thanks to faster wireless connectivity through  5G cellular networks  and next generation devices’ improved processing power, opportunities to explore AR’s full potential are expanding.

With these core AR components, educational institutions can incorporate interactive classrooms into their curricula. Why use augmented reality in education?  Using AR in the classroom  can improve learning by helping educators create interactive classrooms that increase student engagement.

Incorporating AR components into daily work practices can also help businesses solve problems and improve inefficiencies.

Examples of AR use in business

AR has many uses across business functions.

• Business presentations : Presenters can face challenges connecting with audiences and delivering messages. Augmented reality engages audiences by making them part of the presentation. For example, instead of asking customers to visualize a light fixture in a certain location, they can use AR to show how it would “really” look.
• Prototyping : During the product development stage, designers typically sketch prototypes digitally or on paper and use CAD modeling to produce a facsimile of the end product. Printing 3D prototypes can be expensive, making alterations costly. AR overlays virtual objects onto existing objects, allowing designers to change prototypes without printing a new one with every change.
• Research and development (R&D) : Companies across industries known for their innovation spend billions of dollars each year on R&D. AR technology means faster and better visualization, improved collaboration, and accelerated time to market, reducing costs.
• Training and learning : Presentation is vital to sharing knowledge, and AR can be a handy tool for immersing audiences in their learning. AR applications can have learners move around a room to interact with the content, creating more active educational experiences. This can help them retain knowledge and grasp difficult concepts.

Examples of AR use across industries

AR has many uses across many industries. Here are a few examples:

• Engineering : Common applications for AR in engineering include production, training, and support.  In the pump industry , AR helps technicians simulate complicated pump installations in water and wastewater operations rather than relying on a repair manual.
• Medicine and healthcare : From patient education and physician training to surgical visualization and disease prevention simulations,  AR’s benefits for healthcare  are clear. For example, one healthcare AR application maps a patient’s body, including the precise locations of veins, enabling healthcare professionals to more accurately draw blood or start an IV ahead of a surgical procedure or during a medical exam.
• Retail : AR can enhance interactions between customers and products. A customer browsing through the aisles of a store can point their smartphone toward a product to prompt an AR app to provide relevant information. Retailers like  Ikea offer AR-powered apps  that enable customers to visualize furniture in their own homes before buying.
• Manufacturing : About 2.4 million positions may be unfilled between 2018 and 2028 due to a growing  manufacturing skills gap , according to Deloitte. AR can play a pivotal role in closing that gap and addressing complex processes in manufacturing. For example, manufacturing equipment, which often involves dozens of processes for hundreds of individual components, requires regular maintenance. AR can train a workforce to maintain equipment and perform remote equipment diagnostics,  increasing manufacturing workforce productivity .
• Entertainment : While  Pokemon Go  was not the first  AR video game , it has been one of the most popular since its 2016 launch, with more than 1 billion downloads as of February 2019. As  5G technology use  increases, AR advances will continue to change how people entertain themselves. According to a Deloitte study, millennials and Generation Zers (those around 14 to 36 years old) plan to use 5G to stream more video, play more online games with social features, and immerse themselves in more AR digital worlds.
• Space exploration : A Lockheed Martin platform that combines machine learning and  augmented reality may soon help humans reach Mars . If a mechanical problem arises on Mars, on-site astronauts might not receive repair instructions from Mission Control on Earth for over 40 minutes. This platform includes an AR visor that displays an overlay of data, such as thermal, gas mixtures, and other vital information, atop a physical space, which can help astronauts find their own timely fixes.
• Military and defense : Nothing can replace the intense and grueling physical aspects of training soldiers for combat. But augmented reality is enabling the military to add a layer of training that can help produce better soldiers. These apps improve situational awareness and train users to process information quickly and safely. For example,  tactical augmented reality  (TAR) provides tactical mapping during a military operation to help soldiers find friends and identify foes.

The following resources provide data and other information about what augmented reality is and how it’s used across industries.

• Appinventiv, “AR/VR Trends and Predictions for 2020 & Beyond”  — A look at trends and predictions for the future of the AR/VR market with various industry examples
• Light Guide Systems, “8 Industries Benefiting from Augmented Reality”  — An overview of industries actively using AR technology in business and operational processes
• Live Science, “What Is Augmented Reality?”  — A history of augmented reality and a glimpse of its future
• VXchnge, “Top 7 Augmented Reality Statistics for 2020 [+ Use Cases]”  — Statistics and data that provide insights as to where the AR market is headed

Back To Top

AR is increasingly being adopted in educational settings, often to help students with complicated subjects. For example, students struggling with geometry can use AR to see and manipulate 3D geometric forms. Another application of augmented reality in education includes teaching global perspectives through virtual field trips, enabling students to interactively engage with other cultures.

While AR and similar technologies such as VR are becoming more popular in education, less than 10% of schools currently use augmented reality in the classroom, according to Project Tomorrow. Some reasons cited for the slow adoption of AR in education include:

• Bulkiness of AR equipment
• Quality of AR educational content
• Concerns over its academic value
• Lack of  proper funding

AR creates opportunities for teachers to help students grasp abstract concepts. By using the interaction and experimentation that AR technologies offer, teachers can enhance classroom experiences, teach new skills, inspire student minds, and get students excited about exploring new academic interests.

AR technology can help improve the following: student engagement and interest, learning environment, content understanding, collaboration, memory, sensory development, and cost-effectiveness.

Benefits of AR

AR can have a significant impact on learning environments:

• Student engagement and interest:  Student interest skyrockets with the opportunity to engage in creating educational content. AR technologies can allow them to add to curriculum content, create virtual worlds, and explore new interests.
• Learning environment:  Classes that incorporate AR can help students become more involved. An interactive learning environment provides opportunities to implement hands-on learning approaches that can increase engagement, enhance the learning experience, and get students to learn and practice new skills.
• Content understanding:  Lack of quality content focused on education, rather than entertainment, is a noted concern among teachers hesitant to use augmented reality in education. However, existing AR technology enables teachers to create immersive educational experiences on their own to help ensure their students understand curriculum content.
• Collaboration:  As AR content is digital, it is easily shared. For example, a group of teachers can work with their students to continually refine the content. A collaborative learning environment provides students with increased motivation to learn because they are actively engaged in the educational content creation process.
• Memory:  AR is an excellent tool for bringing lessons to life and helping students remember essential details. For example, instead of just presenting photographs on a projector showcasing life in Colonial America, a teacher can use AR technology to create memorable interactive stories.
• Sensory development:  AR technology can help teachers create lesson plans with multisensory experiences. Students benefit from immersive virtual content that incorporates an experiential learning style in which students carry out physical activities instead of watching a demonstration. This approach can help with sensory development.
• Cost-effectiveness:  The cost of AR equipment is often cited as a barrier to adoption. However, as smartphone use continues to rise among young Americans, and since smartphones are already equipped with the hardware needed to run AR apps, augmented reality in education is increasingly more cost-effective to implement. Additionally, AR can lower educational costs by replacing expensive textbooks.

Learn more about the benefits of augmented reality in education:

• EdSurge, “Five Ways Teachers Can Use — and Create — Augmented Reality Experiences ” — Innovative ways teachers are using AR in the classroom
• EdTech , “Here Is What the Right Tools for Mixed Reality in the Classroom Look Like”  — Insights on maximizing augmented reality in education investments
• Interesting Engineering, “Augmented Reality: The Future of Education”  — AR strategies, tools, and platforms that can help accelerate STEM and coding learning
• The Tech Edvocate, “4 Benefits of Using Augmented Reality in the Classroom”  — Key benefits of AR in teaching
• ViewSonic, “6 Benefits and 5 Examples of Augmented Reality in Education“  — A discussion of how AR improves student outcomes
• Campus Technology, “9 Amazing Uses for VR and AR in College Classrooms”  — Examples of AR uses in college classrooms

Below are several examples of augmented reality in education and tools for teachers:

AR tools can help teachers create engaging and educational math content that sparks students’ curiosity, helping them achieve academic success. Smartphone AR app  Photomath  allows students to scan a math problem from a physical worksheet, then virtually walks them through calculation steps using animation. AR apps can also help students understand mathematical concepts through visualization and interactive 3D models. For example, the  Merge Cube  enables students to hold, view, and rotate a virtual cube, offering an interactive way to learn about geometry.

Chemistry and biology

With AR apps, teachers can help make learning about science more engaging through interactive lessons. By combining AR elements, videos, and animation, teachers can aid students in their scientific inquiries. For example,  Chem101 AR  helps students to understand complex compounds such as acids and oxides. Through special cards, students can virtually modify molecular structures and create new substances.

Teachers can take advantage of AR tools to help students  experience history interactively . Tools such as  360Cities  and  Timelooper  enable virtual visits to sites worldwide to teach about cultural and historical perspectives. At museums and historical sites, students and teachers can use their smartphones to access AR apps that provide additional information and context about historical pieces on display.

A key benefit of AR technology is that it allows students to get involved in the process of developing lesson plans in collaboration with teachers. Teachers can also use platforms to develop coding lesson plans with AR technology. For example,  Tynker  provides teachers with tools to  teach coding  for video games. It also allows students to build AR classroom projects.

AR brings lessons to life through simulations. Examples include history: reconstructions of the past; theater: stage design visualization; science and engineering: laboratory experiments; medicine: medical procedures.

In higher education, augmented reality is used for a wide range of applications. Faculty use  AR platforms  to incorporate gamification into curricula and create educational material. Through AR technology, teachers can materialize abstract concepts to help students visualize and understand challenging subjects. Consider these examples of how universities use augmented reality in higher education.

With theaters embracing technologies such as the  ARShow platform , which allows producers to add AR elements into live performances, university drama departments are incorporating augmented reality into their curricula. For example, one college developed an  AR app to visualize stage design  and allow virtual walk-throughs before set construction.

Science, technology, engineering, and math

AR in higher education is gaining traction in science, technology, engineering, and math departments across the U.S. For example, a hands-on, collaborative lab enables students to use  AR technology to operate a chemical plant  and experiment with different chemical reactions.

AR is transforming medical training. It can provide medical students with opportunities to watch live surgeries taking place in real time. AR applications can also help medical students learn about the human anatomy through simulations and models.  One innovative app  allows surgeons to take a walk-through of a patient’s organs before performing a procedure.

Students and faculty enhanced the experience of a  digitized history project  highlighting the events of a World War II Japanese-American internment camp. They used drone image capture technology and AR to create a 3D reconstruction of events during this significant moment in U.S. history.

Schools and colleges, both on-campus and remote, use augmented reality to supplement current curricula and add interactivity. Below is a list of augmented reality apps for education:

• Human Anatomy Atlas 2021  — 3D models and simulations of male and female anatomy help students and healthcare professionals understand how the human body works. Users can perform virtual dissections, view animations, explore muscle action, and more.
• Holo-Human  — This AR app provides users with a collaborative environment to explore human anatomy models, including internal and 360-degree views. Teachers can also create lesson plans.
• VR Frog Dissection: Ribbit-ing Discoveries  — In biology classes everywhere, students dissect frogs to learn about bodies. Through a fully immersive experience, this app substitutes this practice to allow teachers and students to study the anatomy of a frog through virtual dissection.
• GeoGebra Augmented Reality  — From geometry and algebra to statistics and calculus, this interactive tool supports science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education through AR features that allow students to explore shapes and 3D functions, use critical thinking skills, and more.
• Expeditions  — With hundreds of AR tours, this versatile app enables teachers and students to create and explore interactive, virtual environments.
• Exoplanet  — This app, developed by a professional astronomer, provides an interactive catalog of known planets orbiting stars in the Milky Way.
• Star Walk  — Users of this AR app can see and identify constellations and stars in real time and learn about interesting astronomy facts and daily statistics.
• Touch Surgery  — Doctors and surgeons can use this app to prepare for surgical cases and learn about different procedures.
• 4D Interactive Anatomy  — Students can test their knowledge and faculty can create custom quizzes using this 4D interactive anatomy app.
• Visible Body  — For those with limited access to a lab, this app with AR dissection features allows students to see 3D models of the human anatomy in the real world.
• Plantale  — Study a plant’s life journey and plant anatomy with this interactive AR app.
• Boulevard AR  — This AR app brings artwork from the National Portrait Gallery to life to provide a museum-style experience from anywhere.
• 3DBear  — This app combines AR, VR, 360-degree photos, scanning, and 3D printing to enhance remote and in-person learning.
• zSpace  — This AR platform allows faculty to create immersive academic experiences and create content for a wide range of courses.

Transform education with augmented reality

According to XR Association’s  “2019 Augmented and Virtual Reality Survey Report,”  the education market is a top-three promising area of development for AR and VR technology. With the power of augmented reality, the classrooms of the future may not look much like the classrooms of the past.

Infographic Sources

Appinventiv, “Augmented Reality: The Rising Phoenix of the Education Industry” Campus Technology, “9 Amazing Uses for VR and AR in College Classrooms” IntechOpen, “Virtual and Augmented Reality in Medical Education” Medium, “The Many Advantages of AR Adoption in Education” Talk Business, “The Benefits of Augmented Reality in Education and Learning”

Bring us your ambition and we’ll guide you along a personalized path to a quality education that’s designed to change your life.

Take Your Next Brave Step

Receive information about the benefits of our programs, the courses you'll take, and what you need to apply.

A Precious Refuge For Gaza's Children: Pop-Up Classrooms And Virtual Reality

DEIR-AL-BALAH — Rama al-Thabet places a foam mattress on a patch of rough sand for 13 male and female students to sit when they arrive for their 5 p.m. class.

An 11th grade student, al-Thabet and her family were displaced from their home in Gaza City and are now sheltering in a displacement camp in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. Since the war started, her high school education — just like everything in the Palestinian enclave — stopped. But as the as the war and her displacement continued, al-Thabet decided to turn an empty space between tents in the camp into a makeshift classroom.

She bought pens with her pocket money and glued pieces of nylon to create a display board. Above the board, she wrote "GAZA," where she and and her students dream to return to. In her daily, one-hour classed, al-Thabet teaches her students the basics of the English language.

"I'm reviewing the lessons with them, and refreshing their memories. They've forgotten what they learned because of what they went through,” she explained.

​A break from war

The relationship the children have with al-Thabet can be seen on their faces and in their excitement as they head to her class. They come early and wait for her.

But while the class may seem like a break from the war and destruction that surrounds them, the war is never far. When they hear Israeli drones flying over the area, al-Thabet asks the children to clap to distract them. Sometimes they hear the sounds of explosions nearby, and the students are afraid. “When there's a strong explosion, I hug them all so that they don't run away from the tent. We hug each other to relieve the tension, and then I continue the lesson,” al-Thabet said.

"This is the normal situation for any child, to be a pupil, not a displaced person."

Although she's only 17, al-Thabet looks like an experienced school teacher, preparing lessons with different teaching styles to encourage students to interact, and paying special attention to children with problems in pronunciation. She organizes competitions and offers simple rewards and prizes.

Yet she said she has not receive any support from anyone, and she insists that she will continue teaching those children.

“My wish is to continue my education, and to continue helping children in their education and achieving their dreams, and for us all to advance education here in Palestine,” she said.

​“Systemic destruction of the education”

In its more than seven months, the Israel-Hamas war has devastated Gaza's education system. More than 80% of the strip’s schools have been severely damaged or destroyed by the fighting, according to the United Nations. The loss will have long-term impact on the education of children in Gaza.

Marwan Thabet, a father of four, said that despite losing his home and job and sheltering today in the Deir al-Balah camp, depriving his children of education is something he cannot bear. He welcomed al-Thabet's one-hour class as a valuable opportunity for his daughter, Dana.

“My daughter was one of the first students to come to this tent. This is the normal situation for any child, to be a pupil, not a displaced person," he said.

In April, UN experts expressed their grave concern "over the pattern of attacks on schools, universities, teachers, and students" in Gaza, which raised "serious alarm over the systemic destruction of the Palestinian education system." They said it "may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as ‘scholasticide.'"

“My dream is for this war to end.”

That is indeed what Thabet fears. Yet he still holds out hope to return to his home and his work as an electronic marketing manager — in short, “a return to the status of normal human beings,” he said. His daughter Dana also dreams of returning to her school and to reuniting with her teachers, friends, and books.

“My dream is for this war to end,” she said.

​Escape to virtual reality

But beyond the problem of schooling, children in Gaza — as well as their families — face the problem of trauma .

From his tent, Mosab Ali, who owned a virtual reality game development company, uses a virtual reality headset to help children overcome their psychological trauma. Ali got the idea after his son, Amin, was injured and suffered psychologically. He decided to try using the headset to allow Amin to play in a virtual environment of forests and animals, designed by Ali and his team. The attempt worked, and Ali decided to share it with other children.

After months of war and the difficult situations they have been through, children need great psychological support, especially those like Amin, who were injured in the war.

“Children need a new environment away from war and destruction."

“Children need a new environment away from war and destruction. They need to be away for a while from their daily life. After my experiences and work with them, I found that their condition has changed. I see signs of joy return to their faces again,” he said, adding that the children tell him: “Uncle Mosab, I don’t want to leave the place. Just leave me here, because outside there is war.”

Ali has also designed a program to educate children about the dangers of war remnants and bombs that the Israeli army leaves behind. Despite constant power outages and poor Internet connections, Ali said his desire to help the children motivates him.

“My message as a young Palestinian in the midst of conflict: We are a people who love life, and we have the ability to influence and innovate in the world,” he said.

Worldcrunch 🗞 Extra! 

Elsewhere in the press • Even if they are far from the front lines, children and students in Israel are also dealing with processing the horrors of the Oct. 7 attack and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which has lasted the entire school year, The Times of Israel reports . In a May report dedicated to the issue, the Jerusalem-based online newspaper wrote that Israel’s education “system has been dealing with traumatized pupils, many teachers and parents have been called away for reserve IDF duty, and whole communities have been displaced from their homes in southern and northern Israel.” Einav Luke, head of Psychology and Counseling Services at the Education Ministry, said that “adults need to help the children take actions that redirect emotions, giving them a feeling that they are helping the situation.” — Rebecca Bonthius (read more about the Worldcrunch method here )

Like our content? Follow us for more. This article first appeared on Worldcrunch.com It was translated and adapted by Worldcrunch in partnership with DARAJ . For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here .

Virtual Reality in Education: Benefits, Tools, and Resources

In the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage , a submarine and its crew shrink to the size of a human cell to ride through the bloodstream of a scientist and remove a blood clot in his brain. An imaginative tale of science fiction, the movie speaks to humanity’s desire to explore realms considered impossible to reach due to our physical limitations. But thanks to technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), students in elementary schools are now doing just that. Today, students go on virtual field trips to places ranging from the Roman Colosseum in ancient times to outer space to cellular-level passageways inside the human body.

The benefits of virtual reality in education are embraced by many educators, but some are still reluctant to use it in their classrooms. Reasons range from high costs to pushback from school administrators. Others see the value of both VR and AR as entertainment, but not as effective teaching tools in the classroom. Additional educator concerns, as reported in a recent EdTech report, include the bulkiness of the equipment, glitches, and the quality and availability of content. Despite these challenges, demand for AR and VR in education is expected to grow in the coming years. This means that current and aspiring teachers should take steps to learn about the benefits of virtual reality in the classroom.

Innovative teacher education programs like American University’s Master of Arts in Teaching help graduates become forward-thinking educators who can inspire students through technology. The program’s focus on preparing graduates with the skills to deliver education using a multidisciplinary approach is especially helpful.

The program prepares graduates with real-world technical skills using advanced virtual platform technologies. “The use of Mursion [VR] technology has provided American University’s teacher candidates the opportunity to practice science instruction before they work with ‘real’ students, enhancing our teacher candidates’ confidence and skill,” says Carolyn Parker, director of the Master of Arts in Teaching program in American University’s School of Education.

What Are the Benefits of AR and VR in Education?

Before looking into some of the benefits of virtual reality in education, let’s define what virtual reality is and how it differs from augmented reality. AR is used on a smart device to project a layer of educational text and lesson-appropriate content on top of a user’s actual surroundings, providing students with interactive and meaningful learning experiences. VR creates an entire digital environment, a 360-degree, immersive user experience that feels real. In a VR setting, students can interact with what they see as if they were really there.

In addition to providing students with immersive learning experiences, other benefits of virtual reality in education include the ability to inspire students’ creativity and spark their imaginations. And this can motivate them to explore new academic interests. AR and VR in education also helps students struggling to understand difficult academic concepts. For example, through AR, geometry students can check out 3D geometric forms from multiple perspectives; they can rotate a shape to see it from different angles and even view it from the inside. The benefits of virtual reality in education go beyond academics as well to include cultural competence, the ability to understand another person’s culture and values—an important skill in today’s interconnected, global society. For example, a virtual reality field trip to other parts of the world, whether it be Peru or China, exposes students to cultures other than their own.

Growing evidence suggests that AR and VR in education, as well as the combination of both technologies known as mixed reality, can improve student outcomes, too. For example, in a March 2019 report, EdTech cites a study showing that students in a mixed reality biology classroom received higher scores than other students. And AR and VR can help with memory retention and recall, as well—EdTech reports on a recent study that shows an increase in retention of almost 9 percent for students who learned in an immersive environment such as VR.

AR and VR in Education: Resources and Tips

Bringing AR and VR tools into the classroom doesn’t have to be expensive. Available resources, ranging from low-priced viewers like Google Cardboard to cost-effective equipment that can connect to smartphones, can be acquired without breaking the bank. Resources for teachers include affordable or even free apps, such as 360Cities, which allows students to visit places like Rome and Tokyo. Another app, TimeLooper, allows students to visit locations through a historical lens, such as London in medieval times or World War II. Platforms like Immersive VR Education and Nearpod allow teachers to develop lesson plans with VR and AR technology.

These, and other resources, are key to incorporating immersive education into classrooms. But how can teachers set up their classrooms to maximize the benefits of VR in education? Here are a few tips.

Ensure Ample Physical Space

To reap the benefits of virtual reality in education, it is important for students to use VR equipment safely. VR users often spin around or stride blindly, ignoring their physical surroundings. A misstep could lead to injury. Educators should ensure their classrooms’ physical environments are spacious and safe for VR explorers. Students should be at least an arm’s length away from each other and from objects in the classroom. When possible, use VR content that can be accessed by students sitting at their desks.

Supervise and Moderate VR Use in Classrooms

Research into the psychological impact of VR on students suggests that VR should be used moderately and under close supervision in school settings. The findings of the research as reported in a recent CNN.com article recounts that children who overused VR had false memories of having physically visited a place they actually never visited. Limiting VR education sessions to a couple of minutes as part of a longer lesson plan can address this issue.

Know When to Use VR in the Classroom

VR can bring academic subjects to life, offering students new insights and refreshing perspectives. But VR can’t replace human interaction. Learning is fundamentally a social experience, so VR is best used as a supplemental learning tool.

How can teachers use VR in the classroom? It depends on the subject. Using VR to teach grammar in classrooms may not make much sense because grammar is a relatively abstract topic. On the other hand, VR may work well for topics that are visual and tactile, for example, allowing students to learn “firsthand” about a historical event or famous monument.

As a case in point, because the Parthenon in Greece is a physical structure, students can virtually walk inside it to see its architectural details, thanks to VR equipment and software. Many STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) topics also lend themselves well to VR. When it comes down to it, what child wouldn’t enjoy “visiting” the planets of the solar system?

Develop a Plan for VR Learning

Among the most noteworthy benefits of virtual reality in the classroom is its ability to spark curiosity and interest in students. But left to their own devices, students may veer off topic. This is why educators should develop a structured plan to maximize the use of VR within lesson plans and then guide their students along the path. As part of the plan, it is important for teachers to determine goals and expectations for students and set guidelines for students to follow to ensure optimal learning experiences.

Teach Empathy and Cultural Competence

The magic of VR is that it brings different places throughout the world right into the classroom. These new perspectives can result in fostering empathy and cultural competence because they take students outside of their normal daily experience. The use of VR and AR helps students understand people’s unique situations across the world. For example, teachers can use VR applications to enhance language teaching by exposing students to the cultures of the people who speak the language. Using technology to build culturally responsive environments helps students respect cultures different from their own.

Become an Innovative Education Leader

Innovative educational technologies such as VR and AR continue to emerge. And according to an April 2019 EdWeek report, 15 percent of US schools will have classroom access to virtual reality by 2021. How can teachers prepare to leverage the benefits of VR in education to improve learning outcomes?

With a focus on offering future teachers the essential tools needed to transform the education system and educate all students equally, American University’s Master of Arts in Teaching program equips graduates to become innovative education leaders. Advances in neurodevelopment, social-emotional interventions, and a multidisciplinary approach to teaching STEM education are central to the program’s curriculum so that students develop skills to succeed in an education field driven by new technologies such as VR and AR.

If you are looking to advance your education career by leveraging technology, learn how American University’s Master of Arts in Teaching program can help put you at the forefront of the educational innovations that are transforming schools and lives.

Classroom Tips for Success: Valuable Teaching Skills to Master

How to Be a Better Teacher: Reaching Students in the 21st Century

The Future of Education Technology (Infographic)

CNN, “Can Virtual Reality Revolutionize Education?”

Common Sense, Top Tech for Using Augmented and Virtual Reality

Common Sense, “What the Research Says About VR in Classrooms”

EdTech, “3 Exciting Ways to Use Augmented and Virtual Reality in the K–12 Classroom”

EdTech, “K–12 Teachers Use Augmented and Virtual Reality Platforms to Teach Biology”

EdTech, “Survey: Education Among Top Industries for AR/VR Investments”

Education Week, “A Global Perspective: Bringing the World Into Classrooms”

EdWeek Market Brief, “Education Seen as Strong Market for VR and AR by Industry Insiders”

Getting Smart, “Building Culturally Responsive Classrooms with Digital Content”

IMDb, Fantastic Voyage (1966)

International Society for Technology in Education, “25 Resources for Bringing AR and VR to the Classroom”

Medium, “Augmented Reality and 3D Geometry — Bring Some Magic to Your Classroom”

THE Journal, “Making Virtual Reality a Reality in Today’s Classrooms”

Request Information

Unity 6 Preview is now available

Get a head start using exciting new and updated features coming to Unity 6.

Success stories

Deep resources, dynamic community, subscription plans.

Disclaimers

• Creator credits: Bleak Sword DX, More8bit, Devolver Digital | GTFO, 10 Chambers | Laika: Aged Through Blood, Brainwash Gang, Headup Publishing | Muhammad Ali, Showmax Game Changers, Chocolate Tribe | Sea of Stars, Sabotage Studios | BattleBit Remastered, SgtOkiDoki, Vilaskis, TheLiquidHorse
• As of September 2023. Source: Derived from internal Unity resources.
• As of September 2023. Source: Internal Unity sources, Data.ai Steam DB. Disclaimer: Downloads number is a combined figure of 3.56 billion mobile downloads based on data.ai data plus an internal estimate of 98 million downloads based on Steam data.
• As of 2023-10-25. Source: Data.ai. Disclaimer: Top 100 games based on 7-day average of worldwide downloads, both on Apple App and Google Play Stores, as of September 19, 2023 from data.ai.