The latest research shows that, yes, immersive experiences can improve learning—but that just because a learning experience is more immersive doesn't mean it's automatically more effective.

For real impact, teachers like you need to choose a well-designed immersive experience, and apply it in the right way for your classroom.

What do we mean by immersive experiences?

An immersive experience is a multisensory environment enabled by wearable technology like virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays. Immersive learning experiences use this technology to place learners in a simulated environment, involving them deeply in a subject or skill.

Beyond that, immersive learning can be just as varied as any other learning experience. You could use it to take your class on a field trip without leaving the classroom, immerse them in historical events, or let them safely experience flying an airplane or handling hazardous chemicals. Some immersive learning experiences mimic reality, while others can be more heightened, abstract, or explicitly gamified.

Students tend to enjoy learning this way. But crucially, more enjoyment or enthusiasm doesn't always mean they're learning more, or better. Sometimes it's the novelty of new technology or the break from the norm that's engaging.³ And immersive learning experiences can still engage students—while failing to improve learning.⁴

This is where your role as a teacher is key. You can be intentionally selective on your class's behalf when choosing which immersive experiences to incorporate into their learning, and how.

Choose experiences grounded in learning science 

Immersive experiences improve learning the most when they're grounded, consciously and deliberately, in established learning science. So examine documentation, and quiz company representatives, about things like:

1. How closely the experience aligns to learning objectives. For example, does it set students tasks that are clearly tied to objectives?

2. How the experience is scaffolded—that is, establishing foundational concepts first and building on them, or starting with simple tasks and building up to more complex ones.

3. How the experience presents information. Is it at an appropriate level of complexity, so students can easily learn new concepts while managing the experience's sensory inputs?

4. What level of personalization the experience offers. For example, is the experience always scripted the same, or does it offer more support or more attempts to students who don't grasp the concepts right away?

5. Which (if any) inclusive design frameworks were used in development to make sure the experience is accessible (like the CAST UDL guidelines, for example).

Immersive learning experiences built on solid scientific principles like these have been shown to improve students' motivation, collaboration, and belief in their own capacity to learn.⁵ They have been linked to improved teamwork and communication,⁶ and can be more memorable than traditional methods of instruction.⁷

There's another side to this coin. A consciously, deliberately well-designed experience will be most effective at the specific thing it's designed for, and less effective at achieving different things.

For example, different levels of gamification and collaboration are appropriate for different outcomes. So, a heavily gamified, multiplayer immersive environment designed to promote teamwork is unlikely to also be suitable for building conceptual understanding.

So, as well as its quality, you should consider each immersive learning experience's relevance for your specific class and what they're learning.

Introduce immersive learning with confidence

When you're teaching action-oriented tasks that are best learned by active participation,⁸ or developing skills that would be dangerous, expensive, or impractical to practice for real, like undertaking surgery or operating heavy machinery,⁹ immersive learning could be especially effective.

Finally, consider the complexity of the experience. How difficult is the technology to set up? How intuitive is navigating and interacting with the simulated environment?

Before letting your students jump in, you need to be confident with how it works yourself. That way, you can guide them to use it in the most effective way—so they can put less of their cognitive resources towards learning a new interface, and more towards learning what the immersive experience is designed to teach.

Once you're aware of all these factors, you're in control. You'll be able to experiment with, judge, and implement immersive learning experiences that improve your students' excitement, enjoyment, motivation, confidence, knowledge, and skills—and make the most of this exciting technology.

References:

1 https://xra.org/new-xra-survey-finds-one-in-five-teens-own-a-virtual-reality-headset/

2 Lampropoulos, 2025; Jiang et al., 2025; Singh & Ahmad, 2024; Asoodar et al., 2024

3 Mallek et al., 2024; Asoodar et al., 2024

4 Miguel-Alonso et al., 2024

5 Jiang et al., 2025

6 Paulsen et al., 2024; Sakr & Abdullah, 2024

7 Fitrianto & Saif, 2024

8 Conrad et al., 2024 

9 Crogman et al., 2025