Envisioning Teaching & Learning: Teaching When Technology Hacks Reality

One of the most interesting and potentially transformative technological trends concerns two separate movements. On the one hand, we have virtual reality, a 1990s dream that has suddenly become practical through expensive devices and smartphones. VR experiences, stories, experiments, technologies, and practices are rapidly growing, with a series of educational uses. On the other hand augmented reality (AR), the practice of tying digital data to the physical world, has quietly matured as mobile devices bring us information through Google Maps, Yelp, and more.
What happens when VR and AR mix? Virtual data and objects become tied to the real world, as with Pokemon Go. Some call this mixed reality (MR), and technologies have been appearing that make this work.