Teaching Immersive Skills During Covid-19

During the Covid-19 pandemic, AVimmerse focused on immersive skills teaching for university students, combining VR, AR, and virtual workshops with practical, industry-led learning.

At Manchester Metropolitan University, where I previously studied Filmmaking as an undergraduate, I was invited to design and deliver immersive technology teaching that could function entirely online. The goal was not simply to replicate in-person sessions, but to rethink how immersive skills could be taught, explored, and developed in remote environments.

Teaching Immersive Skills in Higher Education

One of the key challenges was maintaining engagement and creative momentum without access to studios, headsets, or shared physical spaces. Rather than treating remote delivery as a limitation, the sessions were designed to focus on transferable immersive principles that could be explored using accessible tools and workflows.

Workshops were structured to balance discussion, demonstration, and practical experimentation, ensuring students remained active participants rather than passive observers. This approach helped preserve the collaborative nature of immersive practice, even when delivered entirely via video calls.

Blending Theory, Practice, and Rapid Prototyping

The teaching programme combined theoretical grounding with practical application. Academic sessions explored the theory of gaming, interactive narrative, and immersive arts, while practical workshops focused on skills such as rapid prototyping, immersive storytelling, and virtual and augmented reality production.

Students were encouraged to think critically about immersive media not just as a technology, but as a creative and experiential medium. Design thinking methodologies were used to help structure ideas, test concepts quickly, and iterate collaboratively, even in a distributed setting.

Teaching Across Undergraduate and Postgraduate Levels

Sessions were delivered to both undergraduate and postgraduate students, requiring the material to be adaptable across different levels of experience and confidence. For some students, this was their first exposure to immersive technologies; for others, it provided an opportunity to contextualise existing skills within emerging immersive workflows.

Despite the constraints of remote delivery, students were able to develop concepts, collaborate in teams, and produce creative work that reflected both technical understanding and critical thinking.

“It was brilliant getting AVimmerse in to speak to students interested in VR. Highly recommend for an informative and inspiring approach.”

--- Victoria Dahl, Programme Lead, October 2021

What This Period Revealed About Immersive Education

This period highlighted that immersive education does not depend solely on physical proximity or specialist facilities. With the right structure, facilitation, and mindset, immersive skills can be taught in ways that prioritise creativity, collaboration, and experimentation, regardless of location.

Many of the approaches developed during this time continue to inform how AVimmerse works with universities and organisations today. The experience reinforced the importance of flexible, inclusive teaching models that prepare learners for a rapidly evolving digital and creative landscape.