Bonus content from our recent episode with Alvin Wang Graylin on the latest generation of XR technologies and what they mean for education.

VR Improves Student Concentration

New Stanford research examines how augmented reality affects people’s behavior

As major technology firms race to roll out augmented reality products, Stanford researchers are learning how it affects people’s behavior – in both the physical world and a digitally enhanced one.

In a new study led by Jeremy Bailenson, a professor of communication in the School of Humanities and Sciences, researchers found that after people had an experience in augmented reality (AR) – simulated by wearing goggles that layer computer-generated content onto real-world environments – their interactions in their physical world changed as well, even with the AR device removed. For example, people avoided sitting on a chair they had just seen a virtual person sit on. Researchers also found that participants appeared to be influenced by the presence of a virtual person in a similar way they would be if a real person were next to them. These findings are set to publish May 14 in PLOS ONE.

How Virtual Reality Can Help Those With Autism

One tool that is being embraced by therapists, counselors, teachers, parents and their children to help those with autism to better communicate and connect with others and the world around them is virtual reality. It is also being used to help others without autism to understand what living with the condition means. Many argue that there is no other medium that comes as close to putting you in someone else’s shoes as VR.