Immersive Arts Education at Liverpool John Moores University
- AVimmerse
- Nov 16, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 8
Teaching immersive technologies effectively requires more than introducing new tools. For students working at the intersection of art, technology, and storytelling, immersive learning needs to be grounded in creative experimentation, critical thinking, and real world workflows.
Following the completion of an MA in Immersive Arts at Liverpool John Moores University, AVimmerse was invited back on several occasions to deliver practical teaching in augmented reality and Unity for students on the Immersive Arts programme. These sessions formed part of a wider commitment to practice led learning within the course.
This approach reflects a broader commitment to immersive arts education that prioritises creative experimentation, critical thinking, and practice-led learning.
Teaching Immersive Arts Education Through Practice
The Immersive Arts programme at LJMU explores how emerging technologies can be used as creative tools rather than purely technical systems. Teaching within this context requires a balance between experimentation, conceptual development, and technical understanding.
AVimmerse’s teaching focused on helping students:
Translate artistic ideas into interactive experiences.
Understand how immersive tools shape narrative and audience engagement.
Work creatively within technical constraints.
Develop confidence experimenting with emerging platforms.
Rather than following fixed tutorials, sessions were structured around creative workflows that encouraged exploration and iteration.
Unity and Cinematic Workflows for Immersive Art
The first phase of teaching introduced students to Unity as a creative environment for building immersive worlds and cinematic sequences. Students were provided with assets and tools to explore world-building, composition, and sequencing within a real-time engine.
Working within Unity, students developed:
Cinematic camera workflows.
Interactive scene construction.
Visual storytelling techniques using real-time rendering.
The focus was on using Unity as a creative medium, supporting artistic intent rather than prescribing technical outcomes.
Exploring Augmented Reality in Creative Practice
Subsequent sessions focused on augmented reality as an artistic and experiential medium. Students were introduced to AR development using Unity’s AR Foundation, alongside experimentation with other AR tools and platforms.
Teaching covered:
Building augmented reality experiences within Unity.
Understanding spatial context and user interaction.
Publishing and testing AR work across platforms.
Exploring creative AR tools such as Lens Studio and Spark AR.
These sessions encouraged students to think critically about how digital layers interact with physical space and how AR can be used as a storytelling and artistic device.
Supporting Creative Confidence and Experimentation
A key aim of the Immersive Arts Lab sessions was to support students in developing confidence working with unfamiliar technologies. By framing Unity and AR as creative tools rather than purely technical systems, students were able to focus on experimentation, concept development, and expression.
This approach reflects a broader teaching philosophy that continues to inform AVimmerse’s work across education, culture, and creative practice.
“great organisation keeping the community together, informed and inspired as we stride through the XR landscape”
-- Mark Smith, Programme Lead, Liverpool John Moores University
Practice Led Teaching Across Education and Culture
AVimmerse continues to deliver immersive arts teaching, Unity training, and augmented reality workshops across higher education, cultural institutions, and creative programmes. These sessions are shaped by hands-on experience delivering immersive projects and a belief that effective learning emerges through making, testing, and reflection.
To learn more about our approach, explore our Unity and Unreal training programmes or view examples of immersive education and creative technology work across education and culture.
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