This document discusses the differences between virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). It notes that VR fully immerses users in virtual worlds, while AR augments the real world by overlaying virtual objects. The document suggests this distinction gives AR an advantage over VR and smartphones/tablets. It also summarizes research on using VR in education, finding students are highly motivated to learn through experiential VR. VR allows interactive learning in contexts that are otherwise inaccessible and for creative expression.

1. Alvaro A. Luna

3. AR IS FROM MARS,
VR IS FROM VENUS
VR and AR headsets both provide stereo 3D high definition video and
audio.
There’s a big difference;
VR is closed and fully immersive
VR puts users inside virtual worlds, immersing them
AR is open and partly immersive – you can see through and around it.
AR puts virtual things into users’ real worlds, augmenting them.
You might think this distinction is splitting hairs, but that difference
could give AR the edge over not just VR, but the entire smartphone and
tablet market. There are major implications for Apple, Google,
Microsoft, Facebook and others.

4. THE ROLE OF VR IN EDUCATION
VR is an emerging technology that has demonstrated potential as a dynamic and effective teaching tool.
Researchers at the University of Washington's state-of-the-art Human Interface Technology Laboratory
(HITL) Learning Center have been at the forefront of exploring the use of VR in education. In 1995, for
example, almost 3,000 students in grades four to twelve experienced VR in the classroom, and another 365
built their own virtual environments (VEs). Preliminary results indicate that students can learn curriculum
content through this experiential process and are highly motivated to do so.
Make no mistake, virtual reality is on its way into our public schools. The number of articles about VR in
educational journals is increasing by leaps and bounds. Workshops and symposia on VR at local and
national education conferences are becoming commonplace. Those who work in universities to develop
and assess VR applications for schools can meet only a fraction of the requests for information, visits,
talks, demonstrations and collaborative projects. At the same time, the cost of what were once prohibitively
expensive VR workstations is coming down to the point where schools can begin to afford them. And non-
immersive applications that run on computers that schools already have are becoming more useful.
Virtual Reality allows us to learn through experiencing places we are not able to visit in the real world.
Perhaps the place is too small for us to see, too large for us to see all at once, or too expensive or too far to
travel to. Virtual Reality lets us move things that are too heavy, too light or too expensive to move in the
real world. Virtual Reality also lets us visit places at different time periods that we could not experience in
one lifetime. For example, we could build a VE that allows us to visit our earth today and then travel back in
time and visit it 100 million years ago. See the topic, Other Worlds to Explore that Teach, for example
worlds that take advantage of these capabilities of virtual reality.
Virtual Reality allows us to experience a body of knowledge interactively. This is a major distinction from
other visual technologies: film, television, and photography. Students learn while they are situated in the
context where what they learn is to be applied. They get immediate feedback as they explore their
understanding of the material.
Of course, Virtual Reality is also a place for creative expression. We can create a world that does not exist.
We can build things without using natural resources. We can create art. We can see music. We can express
our imagination. We can generate and communicate our ideas visually.

13. http://onvert.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxM4vN_4jJY
https://developer.vuforia.com/
https://www.qualcomm.com/invention/cognitive-technologies
http://www.skally.net/eduvr/edu.html