Embedding Immersive Technologies within the Curriculum: Strategies for Sustainable Development

Richard Walker, Associate Director (Digital Education), University of York

Dr. Richard Walker is Associate Director (Digital Education) at the University of York, leading strategic delivery of learning technology services. With over 25 years’ experience, he specializes in blended learning, e-assessment, and inclusive design, driving innovation in digital education through research, national surveys, and collaborative academic support initiatives.

In an exclusive interview with educational technology insights, he shared his insights on using immersive technologies in education.

Research has shown that immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can provide opportunities for authentic learning experiences, when thoughtfully designed into the curriculum. The reported benefits include support for experiential and inquiry-based learning, providing a safe environment for students to experiment and develop the skills that would be difficult or costly to foster in real environments. From virtual field trips to simulated science experiments, learners can explore concepts interactively and hands-on.

Additionally, immersive technologies can be customised to support personalised learning, adapting to individual student needs. The rich potential of these technologies to engage the learner through gamification is also well known. Arguably, then, if higher education providers want to stay competitive and offer leading-edge education, they should be incorporating these technologies into their programme design and delivery. That, indeed, is the conclusion that the UK agency Jisc reached as far back as 2019, observing that educational providers ought to be investing in immersive technologies to prepare graduates for an ever-evolving world of work - in this way meeting the skills requirements of employers.

It is all the more surprising then that institutions have been slow to act in establishing centrally supported services in this domain. According to the 2024 UCISA Digital Education Survey report only 30 UK higher education institutions were supporting immersive technology services and only a handful were planning to implement or investigate how to do this over the next couple of years. Of those UK institutions that had invested in centrally supported technologies; over half were large-sized universities, which perhaps indicates one key enabling factor, the required level of resources to support this type of activity. The technical and infrastructure costs can be considerable in managing the set-up and ongoing maintenance of applications, so that they are reliable and fit for purpose in meeting teaching requirements. The availability of in-house support to assist teaching staff in the configuration of these technologies is also important, particularly when there is no ‘off the shelf’ solution for them to use. Commonly instructors also need support in the design and implementation of AR and VR tools and content resources, so that students can engage effectively and not view the technology as a barrier that they have to overcome in order to progress their learning.

“Immersive technologies can be customised to support personalised learning, adapting to individual student needs”

At the University of York efforts towards embedding AR and VR in teaching programmes are being promoted through a Digital Creativity Lab, which is situated at the heart of the campus within the main university library building. A legacy of the University’s partnership with the digital creativity specialists XR Stories, the Lab offers a welcoming space for staff and students to come together to collaborate on creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial projects. It supports a range of immersive technologies including VR and 3D scanning, with dedicated training provision and scope for drop-in sessions and structured workshops. At this stage it is geared up towards supporting small cohorts of students.

By starting on a small-scale, there is a recognition that there is no bottomless well of resources to draw upon in embedding immersive technologies across the institution. Investment needs to be informed by evidence of impact through evaluated projects that demonstrate clear learning benefits to students. By offering a scaffolded service for academic pioneers, the University is seeking to build that evidence base through case study development, following a virtuous cycle of experimentation, development and dissemination.

An illustrative example of this approach is the partnership between the Creativity Lab and History Department to embed immersive technologies into a new MA-level module, Performing, Playing, & Re-enacting the Long Eighteenth Century. One of the core objectives of this module was to investigate how digital tools, particularly video games and VR can reshape the ways in which history is performed, experienced, and interpreted. The module culminated in a dedicated session, Video Games, VR, and Beyond, in which students critically engaged with the opportunities and challenges these technologies present for historical storytelling and re-enactment. Collaborative sessions such as this one enable academics to introduce immersive technologies to the curriculum in a controlled way, with the technical support in place to address set-up and student engagement issues, including sensory, motor and cognitive accessibility considerations in the design of activities.

By adopting this approach, we are planning to build the evidence base of disciplinary case studies to demonstrate how immersive technologies can be deployed effectively across the institution. This will give teaching staff a taste of what immersive technologies can offer, will assist them in running small pilots to show how immersive experiences can be incorporated within the curriculum, and will hopefully encourage them to share the outcomes with colleagues to inspire further activities. By building the evidence base and establishing a community of practice, we will be better placed to make the case for more institutional resources to support digital creativity in a sustainable way.

Educational Technology

Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality

Cognitive

Gamification