Immersive Learning, Immersive Education, and Immersive Teaching – a Note on Terminology, Correlates, and Classroom Integration

The technological advance of immersive media such as virtual reality and augmented reality has kicked off a new wave of research regarding their role for teaching and learning. Researchers in the emerging research area, often referred to as “Immersive Education”, “Immersive Learning”, or “Immersive Teaching”, come from various disciplines, such as Educational Sciences, Human-Computer-Interaction, and Computer Science. Due to these diverse backgrounds, discussions on terminologies lead to considerable variation in the definitions of the key concepts in this research area. This contribution aims to provide the reader with a guide for three aspects: 1) What are the existing definitions in the research area and why are they so different? 2) What are the evidence-based findings on factors influencing learning in immersive experiences? and 3) How can immersive experiences be integrated in the everyday classroom and how does learning in the classroom differ from laboratory studies?