Mr. Huang is a public school third grade social studies teacher. In his units on ocean life and history, he integrates virtual reality into the curriculum to provide an “immersive” alternative experience. Doing so, he believes, motivates and deepens an understanding of the content. Using Google Expeditions, Mr. Huang emphasizes the environmental consequences of coral bleaching by having his students explore coral archipelagos and reefs. While teaching Chinese History, he has the class “visit” different parts of China, including the Forbidden City. His use of virtual environments in his classroom was not without trial-and-error. Personal space and safety were huge concerns for him, and he also had to contend with the limited resources his school could provide. Through patience, reliance on technology teachers, and a strong focus on student self-efficacy, though, he has crafted a classroom unique in its potential to unlock “emotional pieces” to learning. His experiences, in many ways, represent the daring, yet fruitful benefits that result from investing in virtual reality in education. Mr. Huang is one of a small portion of K-12 instructors who have leveraged the still-emerging technology.

     Extended reality technology—encompassing virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) technology—is currently a multi-billion-dollar industry continuing to grow in prevalence. By 2020, VR and AR spending was projected to reach up to $18.8 billion. Meanwhile, the extended reality market size in total is predicted to reach up to $125.2 billion by 2026.D Integration of the tech has permeated industries like the medical field, video gaming, and business. It has even made significant strides in education and training. While entities like Facebook, Walmart, and NASA have pioneered creative applications of the tech for educational purposes, one area of the “education and training” group that is not progressing as quickly is K-12 schooling. Because of the distinctive issues that come with primary and secondary education, virtual reality has made slower, more targeted strides over the course of the century. As its usage in K-12 schooling grows, teachers and administrators will have to grapple with unresolved legal questions stemming from the especially vulnerable class of children, including misuse of the technology and data privacy concerns. In a landscape scarce of any substantial law or research, schools interested in integration of the emerging tech into their curriculums should adopt standards that safely retain the opportunity of active learning without endangering those who need the most protection.

     Part I of this research will detail the history of extended reality technology across the twentieth and twenty-first century, particularly its commercialization and implementation into the classroom. Part II will address two current concerns regarding integration of virtual reality in school curricula: data privacy and cyberbullying. Part III will describe how data privacy and cyberbullying issues have manifested in an analog to virtual reality: school-issued technology. Part IV will propose a set of standards that, if implemented, could significantly reduce the likelihood of harm to students as schools gradually embrace extended reality technology.