TCEA 2024: Immersive Ed Tech for the Modern Classroom Engages K–12 Students

Down in the exhibit hall, ClassVR demonstrated more of the company’s new offerings, available to all users. These include a library of 360-degree photographs of cities and locations around the U.S., as well as new interactive lesson plans aligned to state standards.

Chris Klein, the company’s head of Education U.S., showed how students can work together as virtual avatars in these immersive lessons. He also explained that the software now works on any internet-connected device, so schools don’t need VR headsets for all students in every classroom to facilitate equitable learning opportunities.

Modern Classroom Technologies Enable Educator Efficiency

Another trend among this year’s exhibition and featured presentations was ease of use for K–12 educators. This includes both tools that have been redesigned with educators in mind and those that can be used to save them time.

Remi Del Mar, the senior product manager of digital experiences, AR and commercial display solutions at Epson, shared in the exhibit hall how some of her company’s newest products are designed for the modern classroom.

READ MORE: Epson BrightLink 760Wi revolutionizes interactive classroom displays.

The Epson PowerLite 770F, for example, can be integrated with a mobile cart for dynamic classroom use. Additionally, this plug-and-play solution has all its controls easily accessible on the top of the device, so teachers can quickly engage it for a lesson.

In keeping with the trend of immersive experiences, Del Mar also showed off Epson’s interactive exhibit display. Taking cues from popular attractions like “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience,” Epson showcased how its own projectors could be used to create a similar educational experience for large or small spaces in K–12 buildings.

Meanwhile, in the Sunday session “Supercharge Your Teaching with AI Tools,” two digital learning coaches from Frisco Independent School District, Alissa Hopkins and Sara Isbell, shared AI tools to improve educator efficiency. Some of these tools include:

• Google Bard: This prompt-based AI tool curates informational responses from all of Google’s offerings, including Google’s suite of tools, YouTube and more. Teachers can use it to translate content, find resources and help write anything from test questions to professional emails, Hopkins said.
• Magic School: This platform features more than 60 tools that help teachers save time on repetitive tasks. It can create rubrics and work examples, scaffold assignments, and even pull questions based on YouTube videos.
• AI: Isbell lauded this generative AI tool, noting that she typically always keeps it open on her second monitor for quick queries. The program responds to questions in a conversational tone and can even help teachers brainstorm age-appropriate jokes based on class material.
• Brisk: Isbell and Hopkins noted that educators in their district love using this Chrome extension because it works with Google Docs and most websites. The tool helps teachers identify and change the reading level of resources and generate content.

To ensure you don’t miss a moment of TCEA event coverage, keep this page bookmarked and follow @EdTech_K12 on X (formerly Twitter) for live updates and behind-the-scenes looks.