“We want to be the most technologically advanced university in America. We want our students to experience the new technology in the new age so that when they leave this campus they are prepared for all of the jobs of the future. That’s important for us. And that’s important for our parents and students.”

“It’s a whole new way to build community in a more convenient, inclusive manner. That’s on top of the immersive, hands-on learning environment this technology offers, which can increase learning speed in everything. It will be exciting to see where this takes us.”

“VictoryXR worked with us to build a VR digital twin campus for NIU, providing initial licenses for 50 users and 50 Oculus 2 headsets. We’ve purchased a few more and are looking to provide interested faculty with the opportunity to learn more about the potential for using VR in teaching.”

“A lot of my students came away from this saying, ‘Wow, if I had this my first year, I would have been a better chemist, I would have been a little bit stronger as a student.”

“The feedback we got from our students was they had a much deeper relationship with the other students, … a much deeper relationship with the faculty member, felt much more connected to the educational process.”

“When you have the headset on, you’re not distracted by what’s outside the window or who’s walking outside the classroom. That’s one of the really positive learning outcomes. You’re immersed in that environment. You’re surrounded by everything that you’re trying to learn.”

“This class has been one of the most engaging courses I have taken at UMGC thanks to the help of the VR environment. Being able to share my thoughts in a verbal manner with my classmates and professor allowed for immediate feedback that fueled my learning. Not only did the VR sessions provide me with feedback, but they also allowed me the opportunity to listen to the different ideas my classmates had about the same video.”

“We saw attendance rates go up, we saw engagement increase, we saw achievement increase. Students wanted to be part of it. They wanted to learn more, not just because it was an emerging technology but because the subject matter was easy for them to digest and understand.”

“During the year, we used the VR set-up how our gym space would look and we would record our teachings in the metaverse. It became a helpful tool for me to understand how and what I was going to actually say to my students during my lessons. It was also very neat to see that even though this was VR it was still resembling true features on how my teaching will in fact look.”

“I feel like we are here together. Whether it is our online MBA students who are all around the world (we’re in 48 states right now; we’re in multiple countries); when those students have the opportunity to feel like they are sitting in the same room together that will be a tremendous advantage for us.”

“Another added benefit of the virtual reality space is the ability of the students to gather in one place and in small groups—no matter where they are in reality—to discuss their observations and bounce their ideas against one another. It's the perfect complement to their online instruction.”