Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is launching a new product line for their virtual reality (VR) Quest headsets targeted at educators for classroom use. Nick Clegg, former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and President of Global Affairs at the multi-national social media giant, made the announcement on Meta’s website, stating: “Of all the ways in which metaverse technologies like virtual, mixed and augmented reality could prove to be transformative, the potential they have for education is one of the most exciting.”
Clegg makes clear that Meta‘s interests, however, aren’t purely altruistic. In his post, he notes, “Education and training providers represent a considerable market for technology products.” While Clegg and Meta tout the alleged benefits of using VR in the classroom, their claims it increases student safety may be one of the more suspect. The National Pulse reported that a study by the British National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children indicated that pedophiles use online VR spaces to exploit children both on the internet and eventually in the real world.
The presence of VR in classrooms also raises concerns about how certain programs may be used to influence or even indoctrinate students, forcing them into digital experiences that don’t necessarily reflect socio-political reality. A VR program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) came under heavy criticism last year for allowing users to experience alleged incidents of discrimination as a virtual Muslin individual in an exchange with a fellow airline passenger.
