Which is why we dislike traditional education and were looking to do something better – we wanted to find a way to allow students to be creative, to explore, to create – while learning. In other words, we wanted to see students immerse themselves in the material in many different ways and learn through experiencing rather than through passive listening.

Immersive education is about immersing students in a rich, complex curriculum that allows them to learn by participating in a wide range of engaging activities. Of course, immersive education doesn’t have to be about technology!

There are many ways to immerse students, as many homeschooling parents know quite well. We immerse our children when we take them outside to the playground and allow them to throw a ball down the slide and see what happens (gravity!). We immerse our students when we let them build with blocks and find out which structures are stable and which are not. We immerse children in art when we take them to the museum, to the library and to the children’s theater.

There are countless ways to teach by immersion. Certainly one of them is using the wonderful tools that technology offers to immerse, experience, and create.

When kids use technology, and especially 3D technology to learn, they immerse themselves in their virtual surroundings. They get to play, create, discuss, collaborate and build, all while assuming a unique 3D personality via their avatar. The beauty of 3D immersive education is that it uses technology to free students from physical limitations such as location or special needs and allows them to truly immerse themselves in the material.

The physical world places limitations on what we can do or on how we can represent ourselves. Our age, gender, medical conditions, physical location and many more factors often dictate our activities and how others perceive us.

A virtual world lifts those limitations. It frees us from physical boundaries and enables us to truly tap into our imagination and our creative side and to express ourselves, freely and fearlessly. In fact, many disabled people report that joining a virtual world community, where they can represent themselves with a “healthy” avatar, makes them feel normal again. Elderly people who have discovered virtual reality also report that by using young-looking avatars, they get to feel young again.

This is not about deceiving or pretending to be someone you’re not. Virtual worlds are very much about being the best possible you – without the labels that physical reality often places on you.

When it comes to 3D virtual learning, there are of course boundaries that stem from the need to keep a safe, respectful learning environment. Those boundaries are carefully enforced. But as long as students are respectful, they get the same level of freedom that always comes when engaging in virtual reality – the freedom to set themselves free from labels. Students can create avatars that express who they really are, on the inside – not how the physical world perceives them. This is obviously an amazing experience for special need students, but in our experience, it is a dream come true for any child, and especially for teenagers.

Photo by Jim Sneddon