VR/AR

Simulation platforms like BranchED are emerging as a modality for teacher training, using avatars and large language models to replicate student behavior and give teachers practice dealing with classroom situations.

A private Catholic university in Connecticut is using an alumni's donation to construct a virtual reality-enabled classroom space with a free-roam pod, an esports lab and coursework in biology this fall.

High school students enrolled in a criminal justice class used virtual reality training equipment to get firsthand experience practicing de-escalation with police officers.

Colleges in Kern County, Calif., are engaging students with story-based lessons in a new VR-based classroom in a mobile trailer, consisting of 16 stations equipped with headsets, a joystick and haptic feedback chairs.

North Dakota is expanding its partnership with the virtual reality platform CareerViewXR, which donated a VR headset to every middle and high school in the state and offers 360-degree experiences at virtual job sites.

The Baton Rouge Police Department is the latest agency to train at LSU's National Center for Biomedical Research and Training/Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education, which uses virtual reality tech.

Decatur City Schools is one of five districts in Alabama to receive virtual-reality headsets from the ed-tech company Prisms of Reality, which will allow students to interact with abstract ideas in real-world scenarios.

Grant funding will enable the Northern Pennsylvania Regional College to offer courses in renewable energy education and technical skills training, featuring virtual and augmented reality tools.

Coinciding with an explosion of AI in the health care industry, higher education programs like the college of nursing at the University of Dayton and Wright State University are using tech to modernize their courses.

Training poses deadly risks for firefighters. Researchers are experimenting with new augmented and virtual reality technologies to allow first responders to learn life-saving skills without risking their own.

After encouraging results with its STEM education platform in middle school classrooms, a Utah-based space tech company has assembled a team of AI and VR specialists to build educational tools.

The K-12 courseware company Edmentum has added trade-specific online career and technical education courses for middle and high school students from Interplay Learning to its platform.

At the University of Minnesota, medical school students have been using a virtual reality experience to understand the perspective of a woman dealing with the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s.

The Alabama State Department of Education and the nonprofit Be Pro Be Proud launched a mobile workforce development tour, bringing virtual and augmented reality job site simulations to students throughout the state.

A private university in Springfield, Mass., opened an extended reality lab in its library with headsets not just for study in the hard sciences, but also communications, marketing and psychology.

Le Sueur-Henderson High School, about 60 miles southwest of Minneapolis, is using VR headsets to help students become certified nursing assistants in a bid to combat a dire shortage of nursing in the state.

Maryland-based ed-tech company Floreo VR gives students with autism a low-stakes, controlled environment in which to master social, emotional and safety skills under teacher supervision.

The United States Leadership in Immersive Technology Act calls for a national plan to assess and advance the use of virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies across key sectors, from education to agriculture.