Immersion in education may be defined as a process in which learners are authentically and extensively exposed to content concepts through various approaches, including the use of emerging technologies and media (i.e., digital immersion), to advance learning, elevate knowledge retention, and cultivate higher level critical thinking (Kozhevnikov et al., 2013) in an environment where the learner is an active participant in the immersive experience (Dede 2009). For example, most individuals learn to speak a particular language by growing up in an environment where the language is dominant. Language immersion, accordingly, is used in education as a method for learning a new language by building virtual teaching and learning environments that incorporate sensory immersion approaches relating to the language (e.g., sights, sounds). The result is an environment that is more authentic, realistic, or natural for focused and expedited acquisition of knowledge, improvement in understanding, and gains in fluency of speech for use in society. In this environment, learners may view a 3D video filmed in a country native to the language to be acquired –reading menus, listening to songs, reading signs, listening to locals, etc. Learners are, in essence, there.
Immersive Designing for Learning
Immersive Instructional Design
Through immersive design methodology, instructional designers create strategies for constructing realistic experiences that engross learners in content that readily transfers to real-life situations. Approaches should focus on learning procedures that use real-world scenarios for maximum learning impact (Llobera et al., 2013). These scenarios aid in relating content concepts to various life experiences for greater understanding and retention by transporting learners into the situations, events, developments, or settings.
Digital Immersion and Instructional Design
Immersive instructional design methods enhanced by interactive digital media and emerging technologies (i.e., digital immersion) support authenticity and heighten learning, fostering critical thinking (Dede, 2009). Media and technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), may be integrated at varying levels to obtain more realistic effects, add to immersive aesthetics in a sensory capacity, and establish more significant transformative outcomes for learners. These digital immersion approaches often use images, video, and audio to create interactive digitally simulated learning experiences that tell a story in which the learner captures and is engaged in the occurrences for recall and application of knowledge and skills.
Digital Immersive Design Use
The use of digital immersion design differs in individual instructional settings. Learner proficiencies, the learning environment, instructional trends, digital media, emerging technologies, focus areas, content concepts, etc. are critical to digital immersive instructional design and, thereby, learner product development. The real-life transformative effect of digital immersive has the proclivity to promote learning gains (de Back et al., 2020; Makransky, 2022), heighten knowledge retention, and, thereby, foster critical thinking.
REFERENCES
de Back, T.T., Tinga, A.M., Nguyen, P. et al. Benefits of immersive collaborative learning in CAVE-based virtual reality. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 17, 51 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-00228-9
Dede, C. (2009). Immersive Interfaces for Engagement and Learning. Science, 323(5910), 66–69. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20177121
Kozhevnikov, M., Gurlitt, J., & Kozhevnikov, M. (2013). Learning Relative Motion Concepts in Immersive and Non-immersive Virtual Environments. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 22(6), 952–962. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24019769
Llobera, J., Blom, K. J., & Slater, M. (2013). Telling Stories within Immersive Virtual Environments. Leonardo, 46(5), 471–476. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43834079
Makransky, G., Mayer, R.E. Benefits of Taking a Virtual Field Trip in Immersive Virtual Reality: Evidence for the Immersion Principle in Multimedia Learning. Educational Psychology Review, 34, 1771–1798 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09675-4
