Should I Buy the Apple Vision Pro for School Use?

These are the things that I'm thinking about, so I've been using it since it came out last week, and if you haven't heard my episode about using it for productivity, I suggest you go check that out at a vision for learning. It's definitely useful for productivity and some things

are just incredible on it. For example, reading is really good. I really enjoy reading. That's not what we're here to talk about. Go listen to that episode and check it out. Let's talk about should we use it for school, will it work for using it for school? So the first thing is that I, apple designed a few things right from the beginning that I think really matter a lot. Number one. They created a guest mode that is very easy to access. That is one of the defaults.

They know the other people are gonna want to try this. And the guest mode allows you to share it with someone else and let them experience it. And when you go into guest mode, what is an option to let someone else use it, and it asks you a couple of different things. It says, do you want to allow all apps or only

the opened apps? And so it asks for that first, and then it says, do you want to view mirroring? Which means do you want to project what the person sees inside there to another display, either another, a computer display or an Apple TV display. And by computer display, do you want to mirror it on. Your Mac computer, that's what it's set up as. And I'm guessing it'll probably work with any airplay compatible device that's been, that's my guess. So that is set up from the beginning.

The other thing is, one of the tools that we've used in education for a long time to give students access to Apple devices is what's called guided access. And guided access is an accessibility tool that keeps the device in a specific app, rather than allowing the user to go into any app that they want to go to.

And this is a powerful thing because what it does is guided access allows you to say, this is the specific app I want somebody to be able to use and I don't want them to use anything else. So you set it up being say, start guided access. Here's a passcode. When somebody wants to get out of it, they they have to use a passcode that is separate from your optic id, so they don't have to know your password to log in. You set up a separate passcode for.

Them to be able to get out of that, which you could tell them if you felt like you needed to or you could not tell them so that they can't exit out. Now, if you want to have students be just focused on one particular app and not use anything else, then you can do that. Here's a challenge with that. Once they take it off, as far as I can tell, you have to put it back on for you and recalibrate it and get it set up, for them.

So that can be a little bit challenging now, because this uses your fingers as the input device and your eye tracking it has to walk them through that setup every time. A new user puts it on. So that could be a little bit challenging, could lengthen the time to do it, but it's also a good opportunity to have that experience of figuring out how everything works, because once you put your hands up and it scans your hands, and once you tap the little dots with your eyes, then.

Then you're good to go and you know how to use the device. So that aspect is pretty cool. What I also like is that because it's using what you have, there's no controllers that you have to try to figure out how to manipulate to get 'em to work. and it just, it works with what you have and. for my oldest daughter who has Down Syndrome, she was able to figure it out really quickly. Now, on that, let me talk about a little side thing here that can be challenging.

When you give guided access or you give guest access and somebody's using it, if you turn on mirroring the. Tool to invoke that mirroring heads up display is pretty much always on the screen and it's always right at the corner of your eyes, and so it's very easy to tap that instead of tapping the thing that you want to tap. And so that is really challenging for anybody who's using it, who doesn't know what that is there for and what its purpose is.

it just gets in the way too much and makes it difficult for someone who's new to the device and it can be quite frustrating. So that is, is the

big drawback. Now, secondly, apple says this device is designed for people over 13 and. There may be other reasons for that, but one very clear, obvious reason is that it is not designed for little heads. when my 12-year-old daughter wanted to try it, I let her try it and she had to hold it up underneath the Vision Pro so that she could keep it on her face, and keep her eyes lined up. That's not a good experience. So what we did is we put a beanie on her head. And then that worked out just fine.

And she was able to use it without holding it up with her hands, which also block the IR blasters. They block the cameras underneath and that look at your hands and all that, and then one hand is busy holding it up, which makes it difficult as well. So that was the second piece. First piece was guest mode and guided access. Second piece was, this is not designed for little kids. Third piece is that this is a sturdy device, but it's probably quite delicate.

There are a couple times that my kids have been using it and I've been a little nervous about them moving around with it. they can get pretty into the immersive experiences that can make it. A little bit nerve wracking, so just be thoughtful about that. Here's the other piece. Apple suggests that you put the cover over the glass on the front. There is a lot of glass on this thing, and that's something that you've gotta be aware of.

And as it relates to kids and glass, we know that those things do not go well together. So I would say probably you wanna use some extreme caution if you're thinking about that. The other

part of it being sturdy, but probably delicate is that there is glass and the screens that your eyes are looking at are rumored to cost a thousand dollars each, which is pretty expensive. The other thing to really be aware of with this is the band that attaches to the headset comes off exceptionally easily. It is really easy for that to fall, and it feels natural to want to carry it by that strap, but doing so would probably lead to a dropping and falling very easily at the Apple store.

When I bought it, they showed me how to put it on by. Putting my thumb where the nose goes and my two fingers above on the top and putting it on like that. You really do not wanna hold it by the strap because it comes apart so easily. That is a major feature when you're trying to switch straps, but definitely not how you want to be carrying it. 'cause if you carry it like that and then the it falls. It's gonna land right on the glass and that is surely going to break it.

even if you have the protective cover on, I think the protective cover is sturdy, but I don't know that it's that sturdy. The thing that I'm not sure about, and I have a, an ophthalmologist who's gonna come on the show and we're gonna talk about this, what I've noticed in having these screens just inches away from my eyes for hours at a time. I have not had the same reaction that I've had staring at my phone for hours at a time. There are a couple of things that are different.

Number one, I'm sitting up straighter. Number two, I am focused more on my posture and how I'm sitting because I have this big thing on my head and I need to keep it where it should be. and so that piece, if I'm, I made a sudden movement. The other day when I was using

it, and I definitely felt it because I was not prepared to make that kind of a movement. And I felt it in my neck and in my back and it didn't hurt me, but I did feel it and I thought, okay, I better pay attention to how I'm moving. And so that aspect you want to be thoughtful about as well. So back to the I situation. I've had this on my face for hours at a time, and I have not. I have not felt the eye fatigue that I have with using a computer screen or an iPad, in a similar manner.

And I'm very curious why that is. And so hopefully when I have an ophthalmologist on the show here in a little while, I'll be able to get some insight about that. And I think that is just a really interesting. Idea to think about, is this going to cause the same sort of eye strain or not? We don't know yet.

certainly there's going to be some research done and people are gonna be curious about that, but there is a company that is actually using virtual reality to train I don't remember the exact word, but. The thing that gives you a lazy eye.

They're using virtual reality to train that, using headsets like this to make it so that kids, don't have that lazy eye problem, which is really fascinating because instead of wearing an eye patch, you can watch a show in virtual reality goggles for an hour a day, and that takes care of your lazy eye. that's pretty amazing, right? Okay, let's talk about the cost. Yes, it's expensive. $3,500 for a device to put on kids' heads could be considered quite expensive.

And if you're just looking for some virtual reality type thing, there are a lot of cheaper solutions out there that probably justify it a lot more. I think one of the real advantages here, I also talked about this in my productivity episode, from last time. One of the real advantages is the apple ecosystem of apps that already exist, and there's already tons of apps that are out there, that if you're using them on iPads, you could likely use them in much the same way on the Apple Vision Pro.

The real benefit, I think will be those apps designed specifically for the Apple Vision Pro that I am excited to see what is out there. On Transformative principle, I had, Vinje on who talked about Florio, how they use this virtual reality, had kids with autism interact better with other people and. Those kinds of use cases are incredibly powerful because they really get at things that are so difficult for us to teach if we are not able to go be in that specific situation.

And they open the doors for, especially people with disabilities where things are not usually designed for them. And this is a way that you can custom design experiences for them. So if you already are using a lot of apps. With your students, you will likely be able to find a lot of apps that work for the Vision Pro right out of the box, which I think is pretty cool. So should you get it for your school? I don't know.

that's up to you decide how old are the kids you're working with, how, capable will they be of. Managing and dealing with the expensive device that's gonna be on their head. How comfortable is it going to be and what kinds of things can you do, with it? So let's talk for example, about this app called, jig Space. This is the one that you've probably seen that has an F1 card that you can blow apart and check out and see all this stuff. But there's a lot of other things with it that.

Are really cool and one of them is replacing solenoids on some sort of, equipment that I don't even understand what it's there for, but it walks you through the whole process of setting that up and looking at it in three dimensions and being able to zoom in really big. Being able to view it in all these different ways,

and it's just really amazing and that's the kind of thing that you want to be able to do to help your students see what is possible and what they can do with it. It really is. A powerful thing that I think has a potential to really change a lot of education.

Now, like I've said before, this is not the first virtual reality headset that has been introduced, but I think the difference is the ecosystem that exists, that Apple already has things that are already out there that you can start bringing them in. Right away and start experiencing them. There is a lot of cool, neat, unique things. In my interview with Shannon, Putman.

Last week we talked about this idea of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation and how you could use this as a way to help motivate kids to get things done and do different things. And what is cool is that there are, a bunch of apps that already are created and designed for the Apple Vision Pro that. Could basically be rewards.

I think one app in particular that you might like, especially in a school setting, is an app called Illustrated, and this is an Apple arcade game, and it's called a game because it's puzzles. But when you go into the app, what you do is you go into a museum.

the Van Gogh Museum, for example, and you look at all these different pictures by Van Gogh and then you put a puzzle piece, you put the puzzles together to recreate the pictures and each picture has a story behind it, has descriptions about what it is so that this really is. A learning opportunity for your students, and I think that this is really powerful to really experience these masterpieces and to learn about the stories behind them.

And that can be fun in and of itself., The really cool thing is that so much more is going to come from people's experiences designing and developing things specifically for the Apple Vision Pro, and this is just going to explode now that people have it in their hands and there's going to be so many more different unique ways of doing things that I'm really looking forward to what people create. If you are using it in schools, reach out to me.

Let me know that you're doing it and I'd love to chat with you more about it. So there you have it. Those are my thoughts. Two or three days in about whether or not you could get the Apple Vision Pro for your school. If you have one, reach out to me. I'd love to talk to you and love to hear how you're using it in your school setting. And what that looks like and what your experience is with it.

So far, I'm at Jethro Jones on all the social networks, and I would love to have you come on the show and talk about what you're doing, and if you're using some cool apps please share those with me. I'd love to get in and play with those as well and see how they work or don't. And thanks again for listening to a Vision for learning. Please share this with your

friends. Go and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Make sure it's five stars and only have nice things to say. Appreciate you and we'll see you next time on a vision for learning.