Giving Compass' Take:

• Jenny Abamu explains why New York City schools are using Google's Expeditions app - featuring AR and VR - to prepare students for future careers.

• How can philanthropy help to develop emerging technologies for social good? What are possible consequences of integration of AR and VR?

• Find out how AR and VR are being used to teach social and emotional learning. 

Virtual reality has been the driving force behind Google’s Expeditions app since it launched three years ago. And recently it’s added another layer of “reality” to the virtual field trip tool—AR, or augmented reality to be precise, which take the form of features such as narration, annotations, and a new “solo mode,” going on virtual trips without a guide.

This past school year Google says over one million students have used the AR tools as part of the company’s Expeditions Pioneer Program. In New York City, 99 different schools experimented with the program for the first time, giving students an up-close look at everything from famous world landmarks to the human body.

Getting AR into NYC schools is not about entertainment, says Media and Entertainment Commissioner Julie Menin, who works for the city. Her office partnered with Google and the NYC Department of Education to expose students to augmented and virtual reality in order to prepare them for the future workforce—where she says several AR and VR positions will be opening up.

“One of the most interesting things we are seeing from a trend standpoint is there are really six New York City anchor industries that are utilizing VR and AR: healthcare, education, real estate, retail, live entertainment and video entertainment,” explains Menin. “So making sure young people have been exposed to this type of technology, that they have a knowledge of how the technology works, is very important.”

Read the full article about VR and AR for career prep by Jenny Abamu at EdSurge.