XR In Education: Immerse!

Brendan McGinty, Director of Industry, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Immersive technologies such as extended reality (XR), which includes virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) are rapidly transforming the landscape of education and training. These tools offer interactive and engaging learning experiences that traditional methods are unable to achieve. By enabling learners to visualize concepts, simulate scenarios, and collaborate interactively, immersive technologies have the potential to revolutionize how knowledge is delivered and most importantly, absorbed.

Learning Environment Enhancements

One of the most profound impacts of immersive technologies is their ability to recreate environments that are otherwise inaccessible, dangerous, or prohibitively expensive to experience. VR can transport you to ancient civilizations, distant planets, or the inner workings of a human cell, all without having to be there live. Medical students can perform virtual surgeries in a low-risk environment, honing skills with realistic feedback before working with real patients. Engineers can interact with 3D models of machinery, architecture, or infrastructure, exploring design principles through tactile, experiential learning.

AR complements this by layering digital content over the physical world, offering real-time insights during hands-on activities. An AR app might guide you through assembling a piece of lab equipment or identifying constellations in the night sky. This fusion of digital and physical enhances comprehension and retention, especially for kinesthetic and visual learners. Playing to the strength of how someone learns is key!

XR, which encompasses both VR and AR along with MR, enables a blended learning experience, again playing to what works best for the learner. In collaborative XR environments, learners can engage with one another in real-time across locations. This opens up new possibilities for global learning environments where experts and students can interact in shared virtual spaces, manipulating objects and exploring content together.

Engaged and Motivated

A significant challenge in learning is maintaining engagement. Immersive technologies offer inherently stimulating and interactive environments that captivate attention more effectively than lectures or textbooks alone. Gamification elements—such as progression, rewards and challenges—can be embedded within XR experiences to motivate learners and promote active participation. For younger learners, AR can turn ordinary textbooks into interactive portals, where diagrams spring to life and characters step off the page. For older students and professionals, VR scenarios can simulate high-stakes decision-making—such as responding to a crisis or managing a complex project—helping develop critical thinking, leadership and emotional resilience.

Inclusive and Personalized Learning

Immersive technologies can also support inclusive education by accommodating diverse learning needs and styles. Students with disabilities, for example, can benefit from customizable interfaces, audio-visual cues and haptic feedback. A student with autism might find it easier to practice social scenarios in a VR environment, where variables can be controlled and anxiety minimized.

“Immersive technologies have the potential to revolutionize how knowledge is delivered and most importantly, absorbed”

Personalization is another strength of XR-based learning. Adaptive algorithms can tailor experiences to individual progress and preferences, providing real-time feedback and adjusting difficulty levels. This ensures that learners are neither bored by material that’s too easy nor overwhelmed by content that’s too challenging. It also gives educators a powerful tool to track engagement and performance metrics, helping them identify where additional support may be needed.

Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning

Beyond traditional education, immersive technologies are becoming essential tools for workforce development. Industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, aviation and emergency response are increasingly adopting VR and AR for training. These tools allow employees to practice high-risk tasks safely and repeatedly, reducing on-the-job errors and increasing confidence.

One of our more recent projects was illustrating the impact of VR for firefighting training. A firefighter, in this case, trains in virtual burning buildings to assess and practice safety and evacuation protocols. Likewise, a mechanic could use AR glasses to receive guidance while repairing an engine. These applications not only save time and resources but also build muscle memory and decision-making skills that translate directly to real-world performance. By more closely simulating actual doing, the learning sticks.

As the nature of work continues to evolve, with automation and AI transforming job requirements, immersive technologies offer a flexible and scalable way to upskill and reskill the workforce. Learning becomes a continuous process, embedded into on-demand XR modules accessible via mobile devices or wearable tech.It’s more efficient because it can be delivered in a just-in-time manner and more effective through simulation.

Challenges and Considerations

While the potential is immense, several challenges should be addressed to realize the promise of immersive technologies in education and training. Cost and access remain barriers – highquality VR headsets, AR devices and content development tools can be expensive – though costs are coming down. Deployment requires investment, typically more difficult in underserved communities and schools.

Content creation is another hurdle. Developing effective immersive learning experiences requires multidisciplinary collaboration among designers and technologists. Standards and best practices are still emerging and ensuring content is pedagogically sound is critical. Additionally, ethical considerations such as data privacy, screen time and psychological effects must be managed. As immersive experiences become more lifelike, it is essential to ensure that users can distinguish what is a virtual setting.

Looking Ahead

Despite these challenges, the trajectory of immersive technologies is clearly upward. As hardware becomes more affordable, content libraries grow and creators become more versed in emerging tools, training and education will lean more into XR as the most effective environment in which to learn, one of simulation where what you have learned sticks more efficiently and effectively than traditional methods.

Healthcare

Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality

Gamification