When Meta held its annual conference at the end of September, the tech giant announced that it was betting on the next wave of computing coming in the form of smart glasses.
Mark Zakverberg, founder and CEO of Meta, said the first working prototype of Orion, which allows the wearer to see both the physical world and a computer display floating within its field of view. He held up something that explained.
“This is not a headset,” he said on stage, unveiling a device that looked like unusually thick glasses. “This is the physical world overlaid with holograms.”
For educators, this may not be welcome news.
After all, one of the hottest topics in edtech these days is the growing practice of banning smartphones in schools. This is because teachers reported that devices distract students from classroom activities and face-to-face interactions with others. There is also a growing body of research popularized by Jonathan Haidt’s book. “Anxious generation” They claim that smartphone and social media use has a negative impact on teenagers’ mental health.
How will we manage the influx of children with computers in their faces when regulating the proper use of smartphones is proving so difficult?
However, some edtech experts believe there will be benefits if the technology is ready to be used in educational activities.
The idea of using VR headsets to enter the pluralistic world of education, the last big idea that Meta touted when it changed its name from Facebook three years ago, is unclear as to why it hasn’t caught on widely. For one, it requires a classroom full of students to wear headsets. It can also be difficult for teachers to have a controller (not to mention the expense of getting all the equipment). But smart glasses will become more relevant as they become cheaper and carts with enough pairs for each student can do activities together that blend the virtual world and face-to-face interactions. Possibly.
“Augmented reality allows for a lot more sharing and collaboration than VR,” says Maya Georgieva, who runs the VR and AR Innovation Center at the New School in New York City. “Many of these augmented reality applications are naturally built on the concepts of active and experiential learning.”
And some early research has found that augmented reality experiences in education can lead to improved subsequent learning outcomes. 1 recent research paper In other words, it “turns the learning process into a whole-body experience.”
Cheating glasses?
Orion Glass, which Zuckerberg previewed last week, isn’t ready for prime time — in fact, Mehta said it won’t be released to the public until 2027.
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But the company already sells smart glasses through a partnership with sunglasses maker Ray-Ban, which currently retail for about $300. and other companies too We also make similar products.
These gadgets have been on the market for several years in one form or another, but they don’t have a display. However, it has a small built-in computer, camera, microphone, and speakers. Recent advances in AI have also allowed new models to act as conversational versions of chatbots, making them accessible even when users are away from their computers or smartphones.
So far, the number of students who own smart glasses appears to be small, but there have already been some reports of students attempting to cheat using smart glasses.
For example, an 18-year-old boy was reported to have used smart glasses in Tokyo this year. Attempting to cheat on university entrance exams. He apparently took a photo of the exam question and posted it online during the exam, and a user on X (formerly Twitter) gave him the answer (which he supposedly heard read out loud through his smart glasses). He was discovered and his test scores were invalidated.
Meanwhile, students are sharing videos on TikTok explaining how to cheat using smart glasses, even low-end models with few “smart” features.
“Using blue light-enabled smart glasses like this in testing is just nefarious,” he says. 1 TikTok user’s videowe’re talking about glasses that easily pair with your smartphone via Bluetooth and cost as little as $30. “They look like regular glasses, but they have built-in speakers and microphones that allow you to cheat on your tests. So you can pre-record your test and answers, or watch a video and listen to it during the test. No one will know that you are seeing or hearing anything.
above Reddit discussionProfessors say the technology makes it more difficult to know whether the work a student is working on is their own, and that ChatGPT and other new I suspect that the problems caused by AI tools will become even worse. Detect.
One commenter even suggested moving away from giving tests and assignments and finding new ways to assess student knowledge. “I think there are too many assessments with limited benefits. No one here wants to run a police state to check if students actually did what they said they would do,” the user wrote. Ta. “I would appreciate it if someone had a functional workable alternative to the current standard. The old ways benefited the rich and dishonest, while the less fortunate and the moral people suffered. (This is not new.)
Some school and state policies that ban smartphones may also apply to these new smart glasses. For example, Florida law states that Restrict the use of “wireless communication devices”. This could include glasses, watches, or new gadgets invented to connect electronically.
“I often compare it to when smartphones actually came out and became a part of our daily lives,” says Kyle, a longtime edtech expert and current deputy chief information officer at Arizona State University. Bowen says. If popularized, it could impact a variety of activities, including education.
There may be signs of a turnaround in university classrooms, he predicts.
The benefit of smart glasses, he believes, is the combination of AI and devices, allowing students to get real-time feedback on lab exercises, for example, by asking a chatbot to evaluate what they see through the camera. There is a possibility that it will become possible. Glasses for students to use when working on assignments.