When teachers are clear in the expectations and instruction, students learn more. This is also applicable with virtual and augmented reality experiences, which should go beyond just being an exciting experience for students.

Teacher Clarity & Learning Intentions

Just like when planning any lesson, determine what your learning intentions are before introducing AR/VR in the classroom. While AR & VR experiences can be fun & can build excitement among students, we want to make sure any AR/VR integration serves as a valuable part of the learning progression toward a given learning intention.

Some ideas for integrating AR/VR:

Prewriting: Use a virtual experience as a prewriting exercise to help students come up with ideas. Example: In a Spanish DLI class, students tour the solar system before being asked to demonstrate their grasp of unit vocabulary and describe what they saw.
Setting the stage: Help students get a big-picture look at a unit's subject matter right from the start. Example: Take students on tours of Ancient Egypt and the Egyptian pyramids to help them visualize what they read in their textbooks during a unit on Ancient Egypt.
Closing gaps: Close experiential gaps for students by taking them somewhere not all of them may have had the chance to visit. Example: Take students on virtual college campus tours during College Week.

Student Engagement

In addition to defining a purpose for a VR or AR experience, give students a purpose as well. Focus students' experience with AR/VR by giving them a specific task and previewing what will come next in the lesson. Such a task should contribute to students' active engagement, provide opportunities to respond, and/or provide scaffolding for an upcoming activity.