Soon, you could walk down the street with a high-tech fishbowl strapped around your noggin. At least, that is the hope of one of the world’s largest tech giants: Meta.
This company has recently invested heavily in the future of virtual reality (VR) and plans to make those investments worthwhile. The release of Meta’s consumer-focused mixed reality headset, the Quest 3, highlights recent advancements in the field and hints towards an optimistic future for the technology.
Given these advancements, Haverford should adopt VR technology in the classroom.
During Meta’s annual Connect Conference in October of 2021, Meta announced plans for a revolutionary new digital landscape. Coined ‘the metaverse,’ this landscape promises to be a centralized virtual space for users.
Mark Zuckerburg stated in a letter announcing the company’s plans: “In this future, you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parents’ living room to catch up.”
Meta’s ideal version of the metaverse features an aspect of augmented reality, where virtual objects are digitally transposed over video capture of real life. While this was seemingly idealistic at the time, Meta took the first step towards this future with the release of Meta Quest 3, featuring two 4-megabyte RGB cameras, the Quest 3 boasts something that few headsets can offer: high-resolution full-color passthrough.
This means Quest 3 can project a real-time video of the physical world inside the headset, allowing people to view their surroundings without taking off the device. More excitingly, a LiDAR depth sensor, paired with these RGB cameras, allows virtual items to interact with physical objects, sensing furniture and walls. However, a 3D scan of the room is automatically done at setup.
This advancement alone has massive implications for the education space. Not only can teachers explain a topic, but they can also use mixed reality to visualize events in ways never seen before.
Imagine learning about a Roman battle while watching a miniature version play out right before you or using the headset’s VR capabilities to explore a town in dynastic China.
Imagine learning about a Roman battle while watching a miniature version play out right before you or using the headset’s VR capabilities to explore a town in dynastic China.
While it could be a long time until this reality is possible, advancements are bringing the future closer to reality. However, how practical would this integration be? The Meta Quest 3 has a base price of $500, considerably cheaper than other popular VR solutions (the Valve Index, another popular headset, costs $1000). In addition, the price of electronics decreases as their popularity increases. For example, the first Macintosh computer cost roughly $2500 in 1984 ($6000 in today’s dollars), while the newest Macbook Pro costs only $1500.
While still in its early stages, VR technology holds massive educational potential that can revolutionize how we learn and improve student engagement.
