Chances are pretty high that most have experienced virtual reality (VR) in some form. In 2010 an American teenager named Palmer Luckey created a prototype of a VR headset. It did not take long before those headsets made their way into classrooms, followed by numerous apps, making VR and visually stunning EdTech tool. The quality of the headsets have enhanced the visual experience. One classroom use for the VR headsets came during the pandemic, limiting the traditional field trips students were denied. Some apps took students anywhere in the world, like reknowned museams, historic sites, and beyond earth. Now let's imaging VR..without the headsets.
Augmented Reality brings VR out of the headset, and onto any electronic device with a video output...a smartphone. It superimposes digital information like sound, video, and text into an artificial enviroment parelleling our own. IKEA, the Swedish furniture store, has an iPhone app called IKEA Place. It allows customers to place a piece of furniture, or lighting accessory into a image of a room in your home...to see how it fits prior to purchasing. There are also AR apps for clothing, sunglasses, you name it.
As a EdTech tool AR can replace PowerPoint as a project platform, giving the audience a visual 3D presentation, instantly changable. Click here for seven AR tools radily availble to incorporate into the classroom curriculum.
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