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So far, a lot of the technology is obvious, it is big and bulky, at least noticeable. However, Samsung has patented a contact lens that projects directly into your eye and also has a camera.
https://mashable.com/2016/04/05/samsung-smart-contact-lenses-patent/#DbdnBdqXDaqm

This is a technology that will be very difficult to notice, leading to very easy breaches of privacy. Of course even today, cameras and recording devices can be and are concealed, but it is done deliberately. This is now a technology that can be used unintentionally and have grave consequences. It may also be used for decent purposes one day, and privacy violations the next, but with someone so used to wearing it, there would be no tells or difference in behaviour. Yet, it also presents a lot of potential benefits as well. I can understand why it is being made. - Robert Rem

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This seems like the fastest way for this to be developed and made main stream. Eventually, it is likely one standard would have won out anyway, so having such major players already collaborating shows promise. I almost see XR being the old Google Maps, before street view, before any real cameras were used beyond satellites. The idea of driving and tagging every street and business must have been daunting at first, but now it appears to be paying off (considering the ad revenue it generates). Tagging everything into XR and making our environments interact is a lot of code, a lot or time and energy, plus addidng descriptions for items.... But, it is likely to pay off when it is truly easy to use and ready for everyone. - Robert Rem

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My concern for VR/AR technology's are not different from my fear for other emerging technologies that are powered by the internet. Different brands are competing rigorously for our attention and in this nightmare of notifications I fear to lost our own senses about what we truly feel or want. There is a really nice video about it by Keiichi Matsuda that I have watched a while ago. You can watch the video here.-Ebru

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Hyper-Reality presents a provocative and kaleidoscopic new vision of the future, where physical and virtual realities have merged, and the city is saturated in media.

by Keiichi Matsuda | http://km.cx
more at http://hyper-reality.co

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For some people it is really hard to visualize a home merely looking at plans and sections. Over the past years 3D Renders came to the rescue but each revision with the client mostly means a new 3D Render from 0 which spend valuable time and energy. I fell like with an immersive VR experience, clients would give better feedbacks since they can see the proposal for different times of the day or be able to change the colors etc.  -Ebru

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The other day I went to Bestbuy and they have barcodes on all the products. So, I scanned one item on my cellphone and it gave me all the information about that product. So now with new technology, we will just point to a particular item or place or even a person, it would give us all the information about that thing or a person.
Going forward, we won't have to memorize anything, students will point to a math question and it will give them the entire solution and how it is calculated and what's the logic behind it.
But do we really want this? That's the question we educators need to ask ourselves.

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The problem I see with things like MAD Gaze is that they create distractions from reality. Not in the sense that you get lost in a virtual world stop functioning in society (though that is a concern to some degree with some VR experiences) but more along the lines of being unaware of the real world in a physical sense. Can’t you just see someone chasing a monster out into a street and getting hit by a car or looking at something while walking and tripping due to a lack of focus? I know this is kind of minor, but in a world where people already get hurt a lot due to their focus on their phones, isn’t this just going to provide another layer of distraction that can possibly make the world a more dangerous space to move in? Just a thought.
- Brian

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As VR interfaces become more standardized (as mentioned above) I think there will be more development in areas of situated learning. It is one thing to teach a student about something and another to give them a chance to “do it”. VR presents an opportunity for students to do things that would be impossible in a regular classroom. For years people have been trained in simulators (which often cost crazy amounts of money to build - think flight simulators) but VR puts simulators in the hands of normal people. I think that is cool.  – Brian

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HP Reveal really got me thinking... Dana :)

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HP Reveal really got me thinking... Dana :)

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For where the technology is now, I can actually see me being able to integrate Reveal into my practice today.  I included this youtube video on an earlier Padlet (sorry about the repeat!); only because it gives many uses for the learning workplace. Jon's bio at the homepage also gives some great ideas for using AR at schools. Our yearbook teacher just reminded me that she has been using Aurasma/Reveal for the last couple years. When a student hovers their phone over the codes in the yearbook, it links them to associated videos of that event! Because this technology has been in the workplace for a few years now, it seems as though pioneers have not only broken the ice, but have come up with ideas that are proven to be effective. (And some of them have thankfully created YouTube videos for us newbies!) Issac Newton is quoted to have said, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."  Not to compare myself to Newton <insert hysterical laughter>, but everything I have learned regarding technology is due to other folks rocking it waaaaay before I.

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A helpful teaching tool on how to integrate Aurasma into the classroom at high cognitive levels via Bloom's taxonomy. For further examples, follow our channels and go to www.thrasymakos.wordpress.com !

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I came across this on Twitter this week. It seems as though kids who have poor balance and poor vision, show signs of even worse balance and vision, post-VR use.   The question that researchers are now looking into is, do these effects linger and if they do, for how long?
My husband brought up a good point, though. If you spin around a baseball bat (on your forehead) three times, you will be dizzy for awhile. If you spin 20 times, you may be vomiting! I think it is reasonable to have certain individuals experience varying degrees of dizziness and nausea, during these immersive experiences. As educators, being aware of this difference would be prudent and having limited time spent in VR and options for those who may have heightened negative effects. Those with heart problems, should probably avoid the roller coasters, too!!! Since physiological effects are experienced, proper training on this technology should be required, before using it with students or the general public.

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Virtual reality has yet to become a reality in most classrooms. According to a 2016 survey of 38,000 U.S. educators, just around 5 percent of teachers said they used any virtual or augmented reality programs in class.

Yet with Google ramping up sales of its Expeditions Kit, and Facebook giving away 500 free Oculus Rift headsets to schools in Arkansas, the number of teachers using VR tools in U.S. classrooms could jump to more than 15 percent by 2021, predicts Futuresource, a market research firm.

Because of the way [the VR space] was built, she had to overreach to do something and fell over.

David Kleeman

What gives VR builders and their investors reasons to cheer also raises concerns, however, for health experts. A recent study was done by Children and Virtual Reality, a collaboration between researchers, VR companies, universities and health organizations, found that using VR tools could have significant health impacts on children.

"We wanted to make whatever experiences we create for children are as healthy and as right for their age as possible," says Dr. Dylan Yamada-Rice, a senior research manager at Dubit, a consulting firm for children's media and one of the groups involved in the study.

Started in 2015, the experiment just completed its third of four phases, where researchers worked with a group of about 20 children, aged 8 to 12, to observe health and safety issues posed by the use of VR tools. The first two research phases involved surveying more than 1,000 U.S. and U.K. children, aged 2 to 15, about their knowledge of and interest in emerging VR tools. Then they explored how children used different types of headsets including Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

What the researchers found in the third phase of the study, published last October, was that usage of VR headsets could impact a child's vision, balance and spatial awareness-concerns they say educators should consider before adopting VR technology.

Researchers from the University of Leeds conducted pre- and post- eye examinations for 20 children, and tested their depth of perception and sense of balance, before and after they used the headsets. For most students, there were no significant differences. However, for children who displayed issues with balance, spatial awareness, vision and depth of perception in the pre-test, those problems may have intensified after using virtual reality tools.

"We had one child whose eyesight differed pre- and post-test. He already had bad eyesight to begin with," says Yamada-Rice, noting that this student showed problems with nearsightedness after playing with the headset, something not common for children.

To test their depth of perception, researchers asked children to find numbers or shapes embedded in dot patterns. Then they asked students to use the headsets for about 20 minutes before repeating the dot test. One child, who displayed problems with depth perception during the pre-test, also displayed significant issues after using the headset.

"What we are looking at is making sure there is not a lingering effect once you take that headset off," says David Kleeman, a senior vice president at Dubit. He notes that students struggling with depth of perception may run into objects or trip over things.

Researchers also found risks for young people who had no pre-existing health issues, noting that their balance and depth of perception could be affected by engaging in content created for adults. For instance, children who entered VR experiences created for adults often struggled to stay balanced as they reached for objects within the fabricated realms that were beyond their body's extent. Researchers suspect that this effect lingered after the headset came off.

"There was one girl who had balance problems post-test," says Kleeman, describing how the young girl fell over while using the program. "Because of the way it was built, she had to overreach to do something and fell over. It may have been a lingering effect from that."

Kleeman and Yamada-Rice also note that children appeared uncomfortable in virtual spaces where there was no ground, or when they could not see their feet.

"You go into Google Earth, and you're sort of just floating in space," says Yamada-Rice, describing what some students felt. "And they are like, 'Why am I here? And why haven't I been given a platform to stand on so I don't feel like I am going to fall down?' That, not understanding where you are grounded, they didn't like that very much."

Despite these incidents, these are health and safety concerns that manufacturers can fix, she believes. For starters, they can design features that lock children out of the VR experience after 15 minutes, so they take a break. She is optimistic that these lessons can help VR developers create content more suitable for children.

The research group notes that further research is needed for to learn exactly how long youth with pre-existing health issues should engage with VR tools. Yamada-Rice worries for children using the tools at home, but she doesn't suspect that this will be a big problem for educators whose students will be on headsets for short periods of time.

For teachers adopting VR, Yamada-Rice recommends that they make sure the tools used in classrooms are calibrated for young people. She also notes that it is important to create optimal spaces in the classroom where children cannot run into dangerous objects. Hosting media literacy discussions around VR content, experiences, and how the systems work is another way educators can reduce health risks.

"Those are simple things teachers can do to allow children to understand how VR works," says Yamada-Rice. "It also gets them thinking about the quality of content themselves. Then they can say, 'this is good' and 'that is not good' and why so that they are not just passive consumers."

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What Researchers Want Teachers to Know About Virtual Reality's Health Risks - EdSurge News

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Virtual reality has yet to become a reality in most classrooms. According to a 2016 survey of 38,000 U.S. educators, just around 5 percent of teachers said they used any virtual or augmented reality programs in class.

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As a distance learning teacher, much collaboration is completed through online collaborative spaces i.e. Zoom, Google Docs. Weekly, we have staff meetings using the Zoom video conferencing room, and I meet there with students at various times throughout the week. I can see the VR collaboration tool being used in the future of staff meetings and class times with students in a distance learning program.

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This venture, in particular, was disconcerting for me. Maybe it was the style of promotion within the video, but it seemed that people were gathering together socially, putting on these glasses and entering into an individual world. When technology disregards the value of those who are present around us, I become very hesitant to engage.

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AR/VR seems to coincide with the path of inclusive education which excites me as a secondary education teacher. The applications of AR/VR in the classroom are endless and it can range from assisting a student in visualizing their homework assignment to providing a new opportunity of a virtual field trip to a works yard. Personally, I have had great experiences with AR/VR in the classroom and the biggest detriment to education at the moment is the cost. At UBC there is a fully functional AR/VR lab that students may sign up and have a chance to experience and explore the software. My class went as a group and we had a chance to do some green screening, light boards, google glasses, VR googles, simulations etc. and it was all a blast. It brings a fresh development to education and its easy accessibility can be a great improvement to any student.

Derek Wong

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As a trades education teacher, there is a personal worry I have for the development of AR/VR technology. We have already seen the introduction and application of AR/VR in the trades education world through the lense of virtual field trips to works yards, simulated tool and machinery usage and modular learning from correspondence. While AR/VR increases accessibility of education, in the trades education world, I fear it removes a "real" aspect of the profession. For example, there is an AR technology out there currently (Sorry, I forgot the name of the exact product) that is a simulation welding machine. It allows an operator to select the type of weld, thickness of metal, etc. and they can then practice pretend welds on simulated objects. The simulation works great for statistical analysis, but it doesn't provide a genuine feel for the actual operation of a welding machine and it ignores an incredible amount of safety hazards that can present itself when using an actual machine. My worry here is if the technology becomes progressive enough, it may be accepted as a certifiable means of education after using these AR machines, but the students that attend the work force will have a huge learning curve ahead of them as they haven't experienced the real dangers of welding.

Derek Wong

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I saw this while looking through the OER and quickly jumped to Google's site pitching the product.  I see Expedition as a solid investment for an entire school, as it provides so much opportunity for students to easily experience the world.  With B.C.'s new Grade 10 curriculum coming out next year, I am going to see if I can get an Expedition kit for my Creative Writing students, and see what kinds of expeditions ignite their writing.

Scott P.

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From Cassy W. WOWsville! We're on the cusp of significant evolution in the AR/VR space. I've always put the AR/VR space squarely in 'entertainment' because of the clunky, expensive accessories. Intel is taking the clunkiness out and replacing with elegance. And, most importantly, incorporating the 'everyday' into AR/VR -- shopping lists, corrective lenses with 'tilt' mode to avoid distractions when you should not be distracted, with intelligent filters (what do I need to know versus what I don't need to know). I realize that Intel is showing us Bluesky stuff now, but I suspect within 10 years, AR/VR will be an option (affordable) to any eyeglass purchase. The Intel interview summary nails it: Hardware is hardware (everything always gets smaller and more affordable) but the magic is in the software/middleware.  There is significant opportunity in the software/middleware side of the AR/VR market segment -- I may set my sights on my next big adventure, which would focus on this very exciting emerging space!

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We have started using the Google expedition app in our school along with the Youtube videos (especially for biology) that display in VR.  My only concern is how long the students can be viewing through the goggles before they start feeling ill (motion sickness) or get a headache.  Our city just recently opened up a VR Arcade.  I haven't had a chance to pop in yet but I definitely have the same type of concerns.

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I am most excited about 360 cameras because they allow new perspectives of regions and allow students to gain a better understanding of a region. In addition they can allow for students to go on virtual school tours which could otherwise be too expensive or dangerous to attend in person. These technologies are becoming more affordable each year and I am hoping to use this to help  engage students more in the classroom.
-Marshall Hacker

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My biggest concern with AR technologies are products similar to Google glass because they give students an increased ability to cheat during tests. This can be hard to monitor as the technologies continue to become smaller and easier to conceal on a person. I have seen the effects of students using smart watch technologies in the class and I believe the addition of smart glasses can only make cheating more difficult to prevent.
- Marshall Hacker