Gillian Dabrowski
Online Learning Consultant,
University of Waterloo
Strategies for Advancing and Maximizing the Affordances of Extended Reality Technologies in Teaching and Learning
On Demand
Session Type:
Breakout Session
Delivery Format:
On-Demand
Extended Reality (XR) technologies have the potential to enhance student learning. Recent studies have shown that using XR can increase motivation in learners and improve retention of knowledge. A meta-analysis of by Hamilton (2020) found that “most studies [of XR in education] did find a significant advantage of using XR over less immersive methods of learning.” However, deployment of XR technologies at many universities has been uneven, ad hoc, and decentralized. To a great extent, this is because administrators and instructors are uncertain about how to implement and advance the use of XR technologies in their institutions in an efficacious, coherent, and pedagogically-informed way. This session will provide examples of actual use cases of XR technologies (both Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality); will identify affordances of XR technologies in higher education; will identify challenges facing the implementation and advance of XR technologies in higher education; and will propose strategies to support the expanded deployment of those technologies. Documentation supporting this session is available at http://bit.ly/XR-UW .
