Promoting Digital Higher Education by Introducing Immersive Learning into Educational Studies
XR4Pe
In the education systems of most European countries, e-learning does not yet have a long tradition. Many educational institutions have either no or only insufficient strategic At the same time, students' IT skills are rapidly increasing – often much faster than those of their teachers or lecturers.
Objectives, content and project results
Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and XR immersive technologies enable the simulation of almost any environment and process that takes place in the physical world and are increasingly becoming part of our lives. Nevertheless, educators know little or nothing about these helpful digital learning opportunities because they were never made aware of them during their own pedagogical studies. To address this issue quickly, the XR 4Ped project aims to promote digitization in higher education in general and XR-based immersive learning in particular.
The project has the following main objectives and results:
- A survey within 20 best-practice EU projects dealing with immersive learning to understand the pedagogical approaches that promote XR learning.
- An online questionnaire survey with 200 European educators at all levels to get a comprehensive picture of their awareness, experiences, requirements and needs in terms of digital and immersive learning. It also collects experiences and developments during the Covid-19 lockdown.
- Publication of a Green Paper with a detailed analysis of the survey results, including clear conclusions for the structure and content of the XR 4Ped Study Course, as well as recommendations to EU policymakers on how to promote digital and immersive learning in the short and long term.
- Develop the XR 4Ped study course for educators and teacher students, with 8 modules on immersive learning and 2 modules on creating and implementing webinars (4 ECTS in total).
- Develop the XR 4Ped study course, an immersive learning environment in which the entire course can be conducted.
- The project will train 140 lecturers and students through an XR 4Ped study program pilot and a further 500 participants annually.
