How to create an online immersive learning experience

As featured in our Digital Curriculum Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Menu.  On the 5 November 2024 and 12 March 2025, me and my colleague delivered our new session 'How to create an online immersive learning experience'.  As written, it aimed to:

"Learn how to create your own online immersive learning experience using H5P’s user-friendly Virtual Tours (360), with available authentic panoramic 360° images.  By the end of this brief workshop you will have created a basic online immersive experience to further develop.  Little technical know-how required."

As the School of Social Sciences has an objective to develop staff digital skills in the production of high quality digital immersive learning, which was influenced by my work in this area.  The School's Digital Development Group has recognised this workshop as an offering to support with this objective.  Therefore, the March workshop was opened widely for the School of Social Sciences colleagues, with 35 in attendance.  Though specifically designed for IHAP staff, the optional invitation was offered fully online to accommodate additional people.

Some slides were adapted to include some School-wide resources.

We received the following feedback:

• Lynne Thompson - "Can I say, Dan and Godson this is great. I've always wanted to do that and never really been able to. So just walking us through it, it's been absolutely fantastic. So thank you...I'm really happy."
• Lynne Thompson - "...it has been great."
• Nicola Payne - "I agree Lynne it is great to know how to do it now!"
• Rubby Legbedze - "It all worked well, I felt like a magician..."
• Rubby Legbedze  - "This is really good, all sorted. thank you"
• Ian Jones - "My NOW LR's will be transformed...🤩"
• Sarah Buglass - "Thanks Dan and Godson! A great session"
• Jo Mcfadden - "...thanks Dan and Godson."
• Moses Mukuru - "Thanks Dan and Godson."

It attracted the following response demonstrating further needs on developing these specialist skills, that are not currently being offered by central teams:

Principal Lecturer, Psychology – “I currently organise the module leader forum for Psychology, where we have over 120+ modules across UG and PG. I noticed the training you’ve extended to SSS staff on developing a digital immersive learning environment and wondered whether you would consider putting on a session in Term 3 for psych staff to attend? This academic year we are going to try and encourage MLs/staff to prepare their materials over the summer and therefore having a session on using the digital tools available on the NOW would be beneficial, especially the more advanced tools.”

EDIT: On 16 July 2025, I ran this workshop for members of the PGCert Café, Centre for Academic Development and Quality.  People, like me, working towards their non-apprenticeship pathway Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGCLTHE).  The positive feedback evidences that two particular participants have identified two new ways, predominately through H5P Virtual Tour (360) to incorporate such modality into their learning designs.

• Lauren Martin, Lecturer, Design and Digital Arts - "How would one make their own 360 images?  Do you need a special camera?  I would like to take one of my workroom to show students what a real-life making workroom looks like."
• Giuseppe Belli, Lecturer, Design and Digital Arts - "Yeah, we've used 3D cameras to do virtual tour set designs, but I'd like to know if there's an accessible app that we can use that that does the same thing there rather than a 3D camera.  You know things that we have with us."
• Charlotte Marshall, Senior Lecturer [PGCLTHE], Centre for Academic Development and Quality - "I'm just trying to think how could I use it in my practice?  I'm so inspired but I don't know where it would fit.  That's where you're on."
• Me - "I'm quite the idea machine.  But I'm thinking some thoughts already...could be around inclusive practice or something...To evaluate a room and how inclusive it could be."
• Charlotte Marshall - "Totally doing that.  Thanks Dan."
• Charlotte Marshall - "I love the idea of the inclusive classroom, Dan.  That's like, again, blow my mind, really thinking that would be so good to do."
• Lauren Martin - "I just think it's really useful.  Thanks Dan, for popping this together.  Just because there's lots of real world situations we'd love to take our students, but we've got 44 or 45 students per year group and we can't take them all to a theatre backstage.  We can't take them all to a costume workroom.  It's just not practical.  But this could be the next best thing because...Then at least they get a little taster."
• Lauren Martin - "I've got so many ideas now."
• Charlotte Marshall - "My mind's blown and I'm just like over the summer.  I'm totally going to do that because the next not for your cohort.  Sorry, you lot, the next cohort.  I'm already thinking like that inclusive practise would be a really great way of thinking about inclusive practise from an entirely different angle and doing something really meaningful...So thank you, Dan.  So, so much."
• Rikus Ferreira - "Great thanks Daniel!"

Revisiting my teaching philosophy

For a formative assessment, submitted in January, of studying towards the Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGCLTHE).  I had the opportunity to revisit my teaching philosophy, something I attempted to do back in 2019 through my blog post 'Facilitating my teaching philosophy', where I was fascinated to know what my position was after a few years qualifying in teaching.  However, after understanding more about a teaching philosophies purpose and principles, I have learned much more about what actually one is, which is a statement - not really sure what I thought it was before.  Anyway, here is what I learned, pondered and developed in a limited word count.  I might reassess my philosophy of educational technology in the future...

There is emphasis about my working class roots which I talk more about in my blog post 'What working class means to me'.

EDIT:  February 2026, this featured in my reflective written account my academic practice submission.

I received the following overall feedback.

 

"Thank you Daniel for submitting your teaching philosophy assessment. This is a great starting point for you and I really enjoyed reading this submission. It is an open and honest account, which provides a detailed insight into the influences on your approaches to learning and teaching.

Strengths

• Clear NTU context provided.
• Good links to own experiences and how these have influenced your teaching.
• Really interesting to see that you were able to reference yourself within this assessment – demonstrates a wider understanding and interest in the topic.
• Overall you have done well to support this assessment with relevant literature.
• Good discussion around teaching philosophies and how they align to your practice.
• Evidence of a commitment to inclusive teaching.

Areas for Development

• Include specific information about what you intend to develop within your practice going forward – what future goals/aspirations do you have?
• Ensure your referencing is consistent.
• Continue to think about how you can evidence impact within your work – how do you know your approaches are effective? This will serve you well as you progress through the course

 

We recommend referring back to this assessment (and feedback) as a tool to support your Written Submission – one of the elements of the End Point."

Related to this topic, in the 'About you' section of my PebblePad course workbook.  There was a question that asked "What does good teaching look like?  Consider some of your own experiences and take some time to reflect on what you think good teaching looks like."  I responded briefly with the following which is relevant to share here also.

Firstly, I feel that the teacher/educator is very personable, friendly and supportive and has a good measure of humour.  All helps to help me feel comfortable and engaged.  Other things I feel are noteworthy to me are:

• I feel included and comfortable which brings about presence and active responses from me.
• My ideas and responses are valid, even if they are not timely, they might be in the future.
• I am encouraged to develop my thinking and draw out previous experiences - which helps with my self-worth and confidence in the group.
• I have adequate opportunities to participate asynchronously to support my reflective nature and process my thoughts, especially on complex information which are usually a lot slower.
• I am praised, within reason and not for the sake of it, for my contributions.  This helped me feel valued and present.

IHAP immersive learning & Virtual Reality design framework

Following up my evaluation last January 'Assessing the current position of the IHAP VR walls'.  In July 2024, I put together a process that aims to enable academics and clinical skills technicians to engage, co-collaborate with the Digital Curriculum Team and guide on co-designing, ideating and prototyping on immersive learning design conversations and production.  All to support scenario, simulation or role play-based learning designs and develop appropriate digital resources, soundscapes, meaningful 360° footage etc.  This should be seen as the starting point for approaching immersive learning to ensure feasibility and success for all involved.  Again, none of this was in place previously, and therefore needed such interest, care, passion and diligence from someone like me to lead on.  Below is an extract from the rationale:

"Overall, there is not large uptake of the VR suites.  By way of building my capacity to support lecturers and clinical skills technicians to use our VR immersive rooms more effectively.  With the view of offering meaningful support and collaborative approaches.  I designed a survey to gather insights into lecturers and technicians technical and practice abilities in using the technology, including wider information on attitudes and blockers helping to identify specific knowledge gaps and areas for improvement.  22 responses were received by 31 January 2024.

As I suspected, it is evident that the following is lacking, in no particular order:

• Curriculum alignment
• Protected development time
• Room size
• Immersive pedagogy

Technical know-how (revisit basics, continue training in-person and hands-on, with time to cover basic troubleshooting, finding and selecting appropriate media, continue to conclude with pedagogical conversation)

To specifically address the gap of curriculum alignment and immersive learning pedagogy expertise, as ideally this needs to be addressed first to support the curriculum alignment issue.  I created a process to join up, engage staff and increase co-collaborative uptake of our facilities and resource creation and deployment to support the design of immersive learning experiences.

Moreover, I am sometimes asked ‘what scenarios do we have for the VR room?’  I broadly know some of the things that occur in there, but not always the specific details of the scenarios.  That’s a knowledge gap that I am hoping to address through this new process."

Therefore, I produced this framework to respond to the development of immersive learning pedagogy, and to promote and engage this with academics and support objectives as part of the rebooted simulation group - a joined up process.

I developed the framework through key/headline decision points that need to be made, whilst aligning loosely to a learning design methodology, Gilly Salmon's Carpe Diem, and including a theoretical reference to the ADDIE model.  There are hidden slides with details on guiding consultation, pedagogical underpinnings and developing narratives.

This had been reviewed by my colleague Digital Curriculum Support and Developer, Clinical Skills Technicians and Department Manager (who line manages the technicians).  It is currently being used in some small-scale projects to road test and is being actively promoted in Management Committee and course team meetings as part of the new governance structure.  Hence why it has taken some time to start getting it going, as the new meeting structures were only announced at the department's July 2024 away day.  As the framework is new and being implemented I'll of course obtain feedback and make necessary changes to it.

This is being reviewed by the 'TILT® Virtual Reality and Immersive Learning practice and scholarship group' and I have showcased to people beyond IHAP, of which I received a couple of comments:

Paul Hamilton, Principal Lecturer (Criminology) - "Useful thanks".

Simon Cauvain, Head of Department (Social Work) - "Brilliant!  Thanks so much Dan.  No doubt speak again soon."