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Pick one app and one clear task. A good first format is the whole class around one headset: the picture is cast (mirrored) to your classroom screen, one student wears the headset, and everyone else watches, discusses, and works from what they see. Several apps in the catalog are rated strong for this format.

Teach the controls before any headset goes on. A two-minute demonstration of "this button does this, here is how you look around" prevents most of the early confusion. Then state the time limit out loud: each student gets a fixed number of minutes in the headset, and everyone knows it before they start.

Give every student who is waiting a job. Students watching with nothing to do lose focus quickly. The pairing below solves this.

Put students in pairs: one is the explorer (wearing the headset), one is the recorder (watching the cast on a tablet or screen and writing down answers to your task sheet). Halfway through, they swap. The recorder role gives students a clear reason to watch, take notes, use subject vocabulary, and contribute to the discussion. A student who feels unwell in the headset can also swap roles at any point.

There is a documented lesson plan built on this pattern, with timings you can copy.

Casting (sending the headset's picture to a screen or tablet) is what lets the rest of the class see and discuss what the wearer sees. It is also a common point of technical failure, and fixing it mid-lesson wastes teaching time, so:

• Test the cast on every headset before the lesson, rather than during it.
• Keep one spare tablet set up and ready.
• Check the app's own casting quality in its catalog entry; apps differ.

Keep in-headset time to 20 to 30 minutes per student, and say so up front. Wipe the headset and controllers between users, keep spare face pads for sweaty apps, put wrist straps on, and set the guardian (the virtual safety boundary drawn on the floor) generously so students are not cramped.

Motion sickness affects some students even in apps with no artificial movement, so an entry's comfort rating is only a starting point. Make sure students can stop early; in the paired format, they swap to the recorder role.

Plan for accounts to belong to the school and the device rather than to students, and check an app's account requirements before the lesson. In the catalog, look for the badge "Students just put the headset on, no sign-ups": those apps need nothing beyond the headset's own account.

Teachers: a fuller operations guide, covering account setup, developer terms, casting logistics, and fleet management, is in the teacher guides (Teacher Mode access code required).