Virtual Reality Teaching at The University of Manchester

In 2018, AVIMMERSE was invited to support the University of Manchester in exploring how Virtual Reality could be meaningfully integrated into teaching and creative practice.

What began as a conversation about immersive technology quickly became a longer-term collaboration focused on programme design, strategic teaching, and building confidence in a new creative medium, particularly within Screen Studies, Drama, and Visual Anthropology.

Image of students experiencing a new medium for the first time.

Context & Early Exploration

The initial invitation came from the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, where there was growing interest in how immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality could expand creative expression and critical inquiry.

Rather than approaching VR as a novelty, the focus from the outset was on how students could think, create, and tell stories differently using immersive tools — and how teaching needed to evolve to support that shift.

Virtual Reality Teaching & Programme Design

Following early consultation, AVIMMERSE proposed and delivered a structured programme of lectures and workshops introducing immersive technologies, drawing on our approach to programme design and strategic teaching for creative education.

Early sessions included:

• The future of film and immersive media.

• Immersive arts and performance: storytelling beyond the screen.

• 360 film production: planning, shooting, and editing.

These sessions were delivered to a diverse cohort of undergraduate and postgraduate students across creative disciplines.

Programme Evolution (2019–2023)

As student interest and institutional confidence grew, the programme evolved to include more advanced and practice-led teaching.

From 2020 onwards, new material explored:

• How immersive technology is shaping popular media.

• Immersive arts and performance 2.0.

• Advanced 360 and immersive production workflows.

Between 2021 and 2023, AVIMMERSE continued to support the department with teaching materials and delivery covering:

• Immersive art and game design.

• Augmented Reality production.

• Advanced immersive filmmaking.

• Virtual Reality as a creative and critical medium.

This longer-term engagement allowed the teaching to mature beyond introduction, supporting deeper experimentation and student-led exploration.

Building Capability, Not Just Content

Alongside teaching delivery, AVIMMERSE played a role in helping establish the foundations for immersive teaching at the University, including guidance around VR lab use and collaborative workflows between students and academics.

The goal was not to “own” the space, but to help embed immersive thinking into the department’s culture, enabling students and staff to carry the work forward independently.

Academic Feedback

“Keith Myers helped me set up the infrastructure for Virtual Reality teaching at the University of Manchester. He delivered inspiring workshops on VR application and practice, capturing the imagination of undergraduate and postgraduate students in Drama and Visual Anthropology.”

— Johannes Sjöberg, Lecturer in Screen Studies, The University of Manchester

Ongoing Impact

his work reflects AVIMMERSE’s broader approach to education and mentoring:

designing programmes that grow over time, respond to learners, and remain grounded in real-world creative practice.

As immersive media continues to shape how stories are told and experienced, supporting students to engage critically and creatively with these tools remains as important now as it was at the start of this collaboration.

This work also helped lay the foundations for later applied projects, where immersive teaching moved beyond the classroom and into real-world contexts. One such outcome was the development of immersive XR tools for engineering and safety training, work that would later inform projects such as Landmine XR.

If you’re exploring how immersive technology can be embedded into teaching, training, or creative programmes, we’d love to talk.

👉 Get in touch to discuss programme design, strategic teaching, or immersive education.