How Mark Zuckerberg is reimagining the classroom with Quest

Imagine stepping onto a school bus and embarking on an immersive educational journey through the human body—not in a fictional episode of "The Magic School Bus," but in real life. Meta aims to make this experience a reality for students, digitally, through its Quest virtual reality headsets.

Later this year, Meta will introduce new software for educators to facilitate the use of VR headsets in classrooms. These tools will enable teachers to manage and program multiple Quest headsets simultaneously, access a variety of education-related apps, and have greater oversight and control over students' use of the devices, CNN reported.

Integrating VR into more classrooms could offer unique learning opportunities. For example, it could allow high school drama students to experience an immersive, real-time performance of Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre in the 17th century. However, the use of VR also raises concerns about digital safety and the potential consequences of increased digital interactions and reduced in-person experiences, as well as questions about whether incorporating this technology in classrooms would genuinely enhance learning.

Meta's President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, who oversees the Quest for education initiative, expressed in a virtual reality interview ahead of the announcement that "You will be able to teach biology and chemistry without needing a fully equipped laboratory in the future… you will be able to walk the streets of Ancient Rome with students."

The drive to make VR more accessible for teachers and students is part of Meta's long-term, multi-billion dollar investment in the metaverse. The company believes that in the coming years, people will increasingly use virtual reality headsets to work, learn, and interact in a digital version of the world.

According to Meta, one of the key benefits of VR is its ability to enable experiences that would be impossible in the physical world due to limitations like time, space, and gravity. For instance, during my interview with Clegg, despite being in different offices—one in Manhattan and the other in London—it felt as though we were sitting together at a desk, thanks to VR. However, it's worth noting that in Meta's virtual world, people's avatars still resemble leg-less video game characters, somewhat different from their human users.

Yet, the extent to which virtual reality can enhance student learning remains uncertain. 

Vincent Quan, an education researcher and co-executive director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, emphasized the need for further research in this area. He stated, "I think that (VR) is one area that really would benefit from having some additional research. With technology, sure, it can have a lot of promise, but at the same time, it can also be a lot of hype, and I think it's important to rigorously evaluate these types of technologies… sometimes you don't know if it's just flashy and innovative and cool versus actually impactful."

Quan, part of a group of researchers who published a comprehensive review of studies on education technology's impact in 2020, noted that findings on whether classroom tech improves learning are mixed and depend on the tools and methods used. Meta, however, highlights early studies on VR's benefits, such as a 2022 PwC report indicating that students who received "soft skills" training in VR felt more engaged than those in traditional learning environments.

Clegg mentioned that the new features for Quest were developed in response to requests from teachers already using the devices, as well as a growing number of developers creating educational apps for the headsets. For example, New Mexico University is using the headsets to teach criminal justice students how to investigate virtual crime scenes. Morehouse College has created a "digital twin campus" to educate students on various subjects through VR, as part of a partner program with Meta to test educational applications of the technology.

Clegg highlighted the feedback from educators who have used the devices, stating, "They want this technology to be available to them out of the box, they don't want to mess around, wasting time individually configuring each of them, and of course, crucially, they want full, complete visibility and control over what students are experiencing."

Clegg explained that for students aged 13 to 17, the new software includes special protections. These protections include blocking access to the Meta Quest app store, allowing them to use only applications that teachers have pre-programmed on the devices.

The cost of incorporating VR headsets into classrooms could pose a challenge for many schools already facing limited resources. Although Meta's Quest 3 devices are cheaper than some other headsets on the market, they still start at $499 each.

Quan pointed out, "Sometimes with these new educational technology tools, they seem really promising, they seem like they should level the playing field in theory. However, the kids who would benefit most from additional instruction often lack the resources or infrastructure to utilize the technology, or they are not aware of it, so they end up not using it, which actually widens the inequality gap."

Clegg acknowledged that cost is "always, candidly, an issue when introducing new technology into education." He said, "It costs something, so any cost is more burdensome for those with fewer means." However, he also noted that experiences like being able to virtually take students to a museum could make valuable educational experiences much cheaper in the long term compared to physically transporting them.

When asked about concerns that having a classroom full of students wearing headsets and interacting in a digital world could feel dystopian, Clegg disagreed. He believes that in the future, we will look back and consider it somewhat dystopian that previous generations were instructed to sit silently behind desks, staring at book pages. He suggested that we might think of it as a joyless way of learning.