Dreamscape Learn, which serves as the hub for UNLV’s immersive learning initiatives, officially opens Sept. 22 but professors have been working for months to incorporate the new tools into their courses this semester.

Here, three early-adopters share their thoughts on the concept of immersive learning as a teaching and research tool and how their perceptions of the new technologies have changed.

Myles Lum

Department: Honors College assistant professor-in-residence
Related class: Honors English 100 (Rhetoric)
Dreamscape Learn application: Alien Zoo

What do you hope students will gain from the Alien Zoo experience that they can apply to the subject of rhetoric?

The goal of the class is to help them better understand five elements of the rhetorical situation  — which are author, audience, exigence, subject matter, and purpose — and how all these pieces move together. This VR experience will be a fun way to jump-start that conversation, so that by the time we get to our different readings and essays, they’re already familiar with rhetorical concepts and can better unpack them.

How will you work the VR experience into the curriculum?

I want to prevent students from only seeing this as fun — even though it is; it’s a blast. But what exactly did we learn, and how do we grow from it?

I think we can answer that through a reflective writing piece along with in-class discussions throughout the semester where we go back to [the experience] and say, “OK, yes there’s this creature that walks with you, but then there’s this different creature that comes up to you. What emotions do you think the authors of this experience were trying to evoke? And why those particular emotions at that point of the experience?”

I want students to explain their way through it so that later in the semester when we’re doing readings, they might think, “OK, why are they bringing up this particular story or moment right here in this section of the essay? It’s not by accident. Just like those interactions in Dreamscape weren’t accidental, neither is this text.”

What is your opinion about immersive learning and its place in education?

In the Honors College, professors are consistently encouraged to find innovative ways to offer familiar concepts to our students so that they’re better able to understand and apply the materials. This is a completely new frontier, and there are going to be a lot of different types of pioneering. Some things will be successful, and some won’t — but, hey, that’s what learning is about.

I mainly see VR as a fun, intriguing, different way for us to better appreciate our actual, physical realities. It’s a highlighter to what life is; it’s not life itself.

Marta Soligo

Department: College of Hospitality assistant professor
Related class: Tourism and Society
Dreamscape Learn application: Hagia Sophia and Alien Zoo

You’re taking your students on a virtual trip to the ancient Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, which at one point in time was a Christian church. How did you settle on that application?

In this class, I will be teaching about the concept of heritage and cultural tourism, which we often see [exhibited] in museums and religious spaces. One of the areas we will discuss is what happens in cases of contested heritage, and Hagia Sophia is a prime example of a place with a rich history of contested heritage. 

You also are taking advantage of the Dreamscape Learn’s free-roam pod for another course. Can you explain the plan for that one?

I teach a class on amusement parks from the perspective of how they evolve sociologically, which is super interesting. For the past 150 years, the evolution of these parks has been mirroring societal changes. 

So students in this class will use the Alien Zoo free-roam experience to analyze how the dynamics of theme parks work — which is especially poignant in this moment when theme parks are transitioning from animatronic exhibits and rides to virtual experiences.

Why is it important for the Hospitality College to offer its students immersive-learning experiences?

We are known for being a real-world college … so it’s very important that students understand the implications of new technologies [before embarking on their careers]. For example, in the future, my colleagues who teach customer-oriented subjects in hospitality might find it insightful to virtually re-create, say, a hotel lobby or a restaurant setting and have students “manage” them so they can better understand how to solve the real-world issues that come with running those kinds of venues.

I taught a graduate course last year, and pretty much every week I invited industry experts and stakeholders to talk with students about an array of topics that impact the tourism industry. Those first-hand professional perspectives are so valuable because they provide students a glimpse into their future careers. This [virtual realty] is another way to give students a taste of the real-world experience.

Gabriela Oré Menéndez

Department: Anthropology, assistant professor
Related class: Archaeology of South America
Immersive learning application: Virtual trip to the Andes Mountains in Peru

What is the benefit of having students learn about South American archaeology and culture in a virtual-reality setting?

I can show my students pictures and videos, and through those they can get a sense of how impressive the Andes are. Or I can have them put on [VR] headsets and take them on a “tour”. I can blast the air-conditioning to make the room really, really cold, and blast a big fan [to mimic high-altitude winds] to give them the physical sensation of being 13,000 feet above sea level.

Then you match that with the virtual experience of seeing the scope of the Andes mountains and what it means to have an archeological site in that type of climate. I truly believe this experience will open their senses and imaginations.

What are your thoughts about immersive experiences as they relate to faculty scholarship?

Now is the time to start thinking about how these technologies can be used as a tool to conduct academic research.

For instance, a researcher might not be able to travel to, say, Machu Picchu for any number of reasons — maybe they can’t afford it; maybe they have travel restrictions; maybe they have a heart condition that prevents them from being in extreme altitudes. Or it could be any kind of disability.

Now we have the ability to gather data and [virtually] reconstruct not only a monument but also an excavation process and give these researchers a chance to [virtually] be there, observe, take notes, and develop critical research.

For so many years, the ability to conduct academic research wasn’t accessible to all. That has begun to change — and will continue to change — thanks to AI and extended realities. And it’s important that academia takes advantage of it.