Ray-Ban Meta glasses are a type of wearable tech that can take photos, record, play music or podcasts, capture audio, and pair with AI so you can do a lot of things hands-free. The more expensive Ray-Ban Meta Display glasses also feature an on-lens display meant for tasks such as giving you text updates without blocking your view of the real world.
I recently tried the basic model (without the display) and found that these offer some compelling lesson planning and video creator capabilities for teachers. These also have potential for students and could aid in translation, accessibility, and more, but the price of the tech–the third generation starts around $450 per pair–is currently prohibitive in many education environments. Significant privacy issues are also a concern with the devices.
Here’s a closer look at the Ray-Ban Meta glasses and what educators should know.
What Are Ray-Ban Meta Glasses?
Ray-Ban Meta glasses have also been referred to as AI glasses or smart glasses. These offer a chance to put your phone and much of what it can do in POV mode, allowing you to capture high-resolution photos and videos that show what you see. These also function as a sleek headset with good calling and listening features. More advanced models also offer displays. Different styles of sunglass are available, such as aviators.
The Ray-Ban Meta glasses are a rare piece of VR or augmented reality AR tech that seems to be a success. Ray-Ban’s parent company said that more than 7 million pairs of the VR glasses were sold last year, more than tripling sales numbers from the year before.
What Are Some Ways Educators Can Use Ray-Ban Meta Glasses?
The main use I see for Ray-Ban Meta glasses right now are as an alternative to a wearable camera such as a GoPro. If you’re an educator who films a lot of lessons for students, maybe as part of a flipped classroom setup, these glasses could be a worthy investment. It’s really cool to just film what you’re seeing, and I could imagine using this for lab prep, or to illustrate a lesson. You could also give your students a more immersive quick video tour of a historic site.
Influencers have embraced these glasses for activities such as cooking demos, but for those of us who are not would-be celebrities, these might be better used to provide a helpful way to film practical demonstrations.
Accessibility Potential
In addition to making videos, Ray-Ban Meta glasses seem to offer a lot of potential for accessibility in education. A translation feature worked really well in my tests of Spanish-to-English, but it still provided a text-based translation. The person you’re speaking to’s voice is captured by the glasses, but the translation of what they say appears on your phone. This was convenient but not that big of an improvement over a phone-based translation app.
That said, it’s easy to imagine future generations of this technology adding more robust translation features: it would be nice to have the translated text appear on the glasses themselves, for instance.
Even right now, students could, in theory, use the glasses to photograph slides and info written on the whiteboard or chalkboard. For those with vision impairments, the screen display version of the glasses could allow them to see text up close. However, the technology is still too much in its infancy for these uses to feel really practical today.
The cost is also prohibitive, and most importantly, my concerns about the privacy features of these glasses prevent me from recommending these for student deployment.
Privacy Concerns
The privacy issues with Meta Ray-Ban glasses are significant both inside and outside of the classroom. The New York Times reports that restaurants have banned the glasses, and there are reported incidents of these being used to harass people at gyms.
Some users figured out how to disable the red light that turns on when the glasses are recording; in response, Meta announced that it had permanently disabled the recording abilities of thousands of device owners who had tampered with the glasses in this way. This has led the devices to earn the unflattering nickname of “pervert glasses.”
None of this has stopped Meta from moving ahead with the device, though they now offer a record-only version of the glasses. Nor is it preventing other companies from releasing similar devices. Google has a new smart glasses tool in the works, and there are rumors Apple does as well.
In a school setting, however, all these privacy issues would be compounded. On top of inappropriate recordings, there are legitimate concerns about how the technology works with Meta’s AI tech and how student data and safety is addressed. Those are always worries with student tech, but a wearable device that sees and hears everything a student does makes these already vital concerns even more pressing.
Bottom Line: Ray-Ban Meta Glasses And Education
Right now Ray-Ban Meta Glasses are a neat, if somewhat gimmicky, device that would be good for educators looking to make POV educational videos.
Beyond that, these have a lot of potential but are not ready for primetime just yet from a tech capability standpoint. When you add in the significant and quite serious privacy concerns, these aren’t devices I see being handed out in a school anytime soon.
That said, the questions around privacy and smart glasses are ones society will need to deal with in the coming years and, as such, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the devices and discussing these with your students, even if Ray-Ban Meta glasses are something you’d personally never wear.
