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Practical example

Immersive Media for Practical and Active Classroom Training (IMPACT)

Teachers
Thorsten Ziegler
Last update
University(s)
  • Ilmenau University of Technology, University of Erfurt
Subject group(s)
  • Humanities
Target group(s)
Format | Mode
  • Seminar

|

  • Blended learning
Contact person
Get in touch with Claudia Hoffmann →
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As part of the research and development project „Immersive Media for Practical and Active Classroom Training“ (IMPACT), a social VR environment to promote media pedagogical competence and professionalisation in teacher training was further developed in collaboration between the ‚Virtual Worlds and Digital Games‘ department at TU Ilmenau and the ‚Childhood and Youth in Digital Educational Worlds‘ department at the University of Erfurt. As part of the project, social VR-based exercise scenarios were created with a thematic focus on classroom management (CM), which were implemented in teacher training on a trial basis and evaluated with students.

The challenge of teaching

The practical example serves as an impulse for the use of immersive social VR applications in university teaching. In particular, the format is a useful and innovative addition to the existing portfolio of training opportunities for acquiring skills in classroom management.

Goals of your practical example

The social VR scenario presented here aims to create a learning and practice situation that is as authentic and immersive as possible, which primarily serves as a basis for reflecting on one's own pedagogical actions and for strengthening classroom management skills. In this way, student teachers learn situationally and experientially in a safe and repeatable learning environment using flexible simulations of realistic educational scenarios. At the same time, they strengthen their digital skills.

Prerequisites for implementation

1) Fixed communication routines (check-ins, documentation),
2) Openness to collaboration regardless of location
3) Plan mandatory briefing and debriefing - structured reflection is the central learning effect and should be didactically secured.

 

Procedure

In terms of content and didactics, the greatest challenge was to design an exercise scenario that was as authentic and consistent as possible and to integrate this into courses. The project benefited from very cooperative and committed teachers, which resulted in a theory-based situational vignette (teaching disruption) based on seminar content. In view of the browser-based public accessibility and low-threshold access to the scenario, there were also several technical challenges, particularly with regard to hosting, scalability, access security and robust performance on heterogeneous end devices.

The developed exercise scenario is hosted on servers rented by TU Ilmenau in Germany and is browser-based and accessible to all lecturers without VR glasses. The appropriate VR hardware is available at both universities to fully utilise the exercise scenario.

Material for the practical example

Graphic from a publication

Helpful links and sources

Link to the VR exercise scenario
VR glasses are not necessarily required! The scenario is accessible via browser.

Knutzen, K., & Ziegler, T. (2025). Simulating Classroom Chaos: The Design of a Social VR Environment for Teacher Education. In: Practitioner Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (Conference Proceedings Volume), pp. 1-5. DOI: 10.56198/6dg3g197

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