Abstract

Drawing on immersive storytelling projects developed with Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia, this workshop rethinks ‘immersion’ as a pedagogical strategy rather than a technological feature. While engaging with Virtual Reality as one example, it challenges narrow, equipment-driven definitions and instead foregrounds presence, relationality, and embodied learning. At a time when VR is framed as either overhyped or declining, the session shifts the focus to what immersive approaches make possible in teaching. Through practical examples and a collaborative redesign activity, participants will explore how immersion can reshape curricula, assessment, and student engagement, while remaining attentive to access, scalability, and creative pedagogies.

Session and activities

Drawing from a range of immersive media/storytelling research projects I conducted together with Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia, this session explores how ‘immersion’ can be understood as a broader pedagogical strategy that extends beyond specific technologies and platforms.

While I will be focusing on Virtual Reality, in this session, I want to push the boundaries of what we think of as immersion and the technological constraints of using specific equipment to experience it. At a time when VR is often framed as either overhyped or in decline, this workshop shifts the focus from technology to pedagogy. Rather than asking whether VR works, it asks a more productive question: what forms of learning become possible when we think in terms of immersion, presence, and relational experience?

By engaging with some practical examples, participants will be invited to reflect on their own teaching and consider where immersive approaches might meaningfully reshape learning experiences and how. Through a short provocation and collaborative activity, colleagues will redesign an aspect of their curriculum (e.g. a lecture, seminar, or assessment) using principles such as embodiment, spatiality, and relationality.

The workshop speaks to ongoing conversations around ‘decolonising’ the curriculum, multimodal assessment, and student engagement. It will be particularly relevant to those interested in moving beyond text-based or linear modes of teaching, while remaining attentive to issues of access, scalability, and critical use of technology.

Structure of the workshop:

• Intro to immersive storytelling and VR -Introduction to VR projects funded through the Teaching and Learning Fund;
• VR provocation/question(s);
• Group discussion and direct experience of VR content;
• Activity: Redesign a teaching session or assessment (Learning outcomes, Assessment criteria, Feedback strategies) using the principles learned during the presentation.
• Final group discussion and conclusive reflections.