Apple Vision Pro in Education: 9 Ways to Deepen Learning and Increase Engagement Across the Curriculum

At the time of this writing, the Apple Vision Pro has been available in the United States for less than six months, and for only one month in a handful of other countries. Still, just about everyone that has used or demo’ed the device reports a sense of awe and a feeling that the AVP has the potential to “change everything.”

As an educator, my mind immediately goes to the pedagogical use-cases for the device, and after spending quite a bit of time using the Apple Vision Pro, I’m hopeful that my experiences will help to shed light for teachers and administrators that are wondering what the AVP can do, and how it can be used for teaching and learning. (Stated differently, this is the post that I wish I’d found several months ago when I had first started exploring the device!)

Starting at the Beginning

Before discussing the cross-curricular applications for the Apple Vision Pro, it might be helpful to start with some of the basics that help to make sense of how the AVP can work in an educational setting. Consider starting with these Apple Vision Pro in Edu FAQs as you prepare to embark upon your Apple Vision Pro journey.

1. Insight Heart (and related augmented reality learning experiences)

The popular app “Insight Heart” is an excellent example of how augmented reality can be leveraged to increase engagement and deepen learning for students. Insight Heart enables students to view and manipulate an anatomically accurate human heart in 3D. The model is highly detailed, and while it appears in front of the user (as if it were floating in space, rendered with 4k textures), every student in the class can share in the experience when the app is AirPlayed for all to see. This, of course, is just one example of a growing body of apps that offer augmented reality learning experiences for students that would otherwise be inaccessible and/or impossible for students to experience.

2. JigSpace for 3D models

JigSpace describes their app is “interactive 3D presentation software that anyone can use to create immersive AR demonstrations and rich product stories.” You can download JigSpace for free, and in moments, find yourself manipulating, deconstructing, and learning all about a jet engine that’s right in front of your eyes. And what’s more, JigSpace enables students to develop 3D models (“Jigs”) on MacBook or iPad before experiencing and sharing them on the Apple Vision Pro. You can learn more about JigSpace’s cross platform editing demo here.

3. Immersive Videos Bring “Virtual Field Trips” to the Next Level

The notion of taking students on a “virtual field trip” has evolved in incredible ways over the years, from the early days of digital snapshots to the more recent use of interactive maps and immersive videos. A quick YouTube search for 360 videos will quickly bring up a long list of possibilities for regions around the world — perfect for offering students a taste of different cultures, a better understanding of different communities, and deeper appreciation of global perspectives. World Language teachers might bring students to different countries, English teachers might bring students to the geographical locations where the novels that they’re reading is set, and Social Studies teachers might bring students to different time periods.

It’s noteworthy that Apple has also released an Apple Immersive video series that offers a number of astoundingly high quality experiences (sort of like mini-documentaries); this includes hot air ballooning in Turkey, caring for orphaned elephant in Kenya, and flying over volcanoes and waterfalls in Hawaii.

As all of these content libraries grow (and grow and grow), educators should carefully select the immersive experiences that align with their curriculum and that deepen student learning, all to ensure that every virtual field trip with the AVP is relevant, enriching, and impactful.

4. Filmmaking for AVP

These new modalities raise a number of questions for students, and offer opportunities for learners to consider design choices that weren’t previously relevant. For example, the popular activity of asking students to design a simple, frame-by-frame “storyboard” when outlining a skit, story, or film, can be transformed by infusing the activity with the same questions modern filmmakers must consider: What if this were shot using a 180 degree lens? What might be the pros and cons of using a 360 degree camera (e.g. will viewers feel like they’re missing something at all times, how can their attention be redirected to specific focal points)? How might 3D video be used to empower a message (and when might it be detrimental)? These considerations can introduce an entirely new dimension into any class activity that already relies on storyboarding or visual analysis as part of its process — including English Language Arts, Social Studies, Communication, Advertising and Marketing, Cinema, Filmmaking, and more.

You might even consider taking this to the next level by asking students to create their own films in these emerging modalities, especially if you have a robust media production course or career pathway in place, although the requisite hardware for shooting 8K 3D video with a 180-degree field of view is even newer (and much pricier) than the AVP itself.

5. Shooting Spatial Video

The Apple Vision Pro allows us to playback and watch spatial videos that were shot on the AVP itself, or on compatible models of iPhone. (The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max were the first iPhones with this capability.) Watching these videos have often been described as re-living or re-experiencing a memory or moment from the past — and while that can be profound for our personal lives, it also introduces a compelling new tool into our classroom repertoires.

I immediately think of the classic assignment where students are asked to set goals for the future, or to write a letter to their future selves at the start of the school year — and ten months later, teachers can redistribute those letters for reflection. Instead, consider how students might shoot their message for the future using spatial video for an even more profound effect. The same might be true for any student activity that might have already been significant enough to merit a video recording, but that can instead be captured in an even more immersive and 3D format. 

6. Spatial FaceTime for Collaboration

The Apple Vision Pro’s spatial video features translate into FaceTime, too, which means that students can hop on a FaceTime call with anyone who also has an AVP (a tutor, an outside expert, a classmate) and experience something that can only be described as feeling a whole lot like talking to a hologram. The person (or people) on the other end of the FaceTime call essentially materialize in the room you’re in — and you can see each other as you move about the space. (You can even hear the person to your left, or right, or behind you, if they move to those parts of the environment.)

7. Immersive Environments for Focus, Mindfulness, and More

One of the most compelling features of the Apple Vision Pro is the option to dial up “immersion” — so that users can choose whether they want to see and “be” in the room they’re sitting in, whether they’d like to be fully immersed in a digital environment, or anywhere on the spectrum in-between. This includes incredible landscapes such as Mount Hood, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, and even the moon.

The same underlying premise that makes these features so popular for Apple Vision Pro power-users can be considered in an educational setting, too. These environments create an immediate sense of calm, focus, and inspiration — and can be a powerful avenue for helping a distracted student to get back on track. Likewise, the Mindfulness app that comes pre-installed on the Apple Vision Pro offers an immersive and effective approach for helping students to practice mindfulness as they focus, center, and breathe.

8. Practice Public Speaking with Keynote

Once a student loads up their presentation in Keynote on Apple Vision Pro, they will have the option to rehearse their presentation in a realistic setting, such as a conference room or a theater. Their presentation will be displayed on the big screen in that room, and they can adjust other environmental parameters (controlling the lights, using a laser pointer) to create a compelling immersive space in which they can authentically practice their presentations.

9. Designing for the Apple Vision Pro

As mind-blowing as all of the above applications are, I find myself continuously returning to the fact that the Apple Vision Pro is still a brand new device, that spatial computing is just now stepping into the mainstream, and that the spatial app ecosystem is still nascent. And yet, all of the tools that are necessary to develop for the AVP are at our students’ disposal — for free. 

To that end, consider offering an advanced computer science course that teaches students how to develop spatial apps for the Apple Vision Pro environment using tools such as Reality Composer Pro (learn more about Reality Composer Pro here) or Unity (learn more about Unity here). Spatial app design could very well be its own course, but these core principles might also be married to other complementary and synergistic curricula, such as 3D design, advanced physics, and artificial intelligence.