• What added values can immersive cases bring to my teaching?

Teaching with immersive cases allows you to place students face to face with real life situations. It gives them the opportunity to practice difficult decision making, to analyze their behavior and learn from it and to make mistakes in a safe and controllable learning environment.

Instead of talking about a case they had to read for hours, they can experience it first hand. Studies about VR and learning show that experiential learning is more memorable and promotes higher levels of empathy. These advantages are key to effective learning, promoting personal development.

• In what way do I have to change my current methods to adapt to immersive teaching? 

Your methods don’t have to change. VR is an enabler, allowing you to teach theory through practice. Each VR experience produced by INSEAD Immersive Learning is equipped with full teaching notes and information you can use to embed the cases within your classes, and the INSEAD VR team is at your disposal in order to advise on amphi setup and provide support before, during and after the class. 

• Why would I want to change the way that I teach? 

Immersive learning opens new opportunities for effective learning and teaching, increasing engagement, retention of knowledge gained, and the ability to implement are key issues in impactful learning. Besides, reality has changed, your learners require change, and it is the obligation of teachers to evolve and learn together with your students.

• Is teaching cases with VR more complicated than teaching “classical” pencil and paper cases? 

There will probably be a slight learning curve since it is a new and different method but the application is very easy to use and you will have plenty of support to ensure a successful experience for you and your students. INSEAD-VR has developed an easy to use web based dashboard, where facilitators can seamlessly control full cohorts of devices, play VR segments, and receive real time data from the class.

• How can I learn to teach an immersive case?

Each VR experience is equipped with full teaching notes and information you can use to embed the cases within your classes and the INSEAD VR team is available to help and customize the experience to your pedagogical needs.

• What kind of support can I expect if I decide to use an immersive case in my classes?

The INSEAD VR team is available for holistic support starting with assistance to choose and incorporate the case into your teaching curriculum, providing the ability to collect data to assist the learning experience. The INSEAD-VR team works closely with IT and campus services to ensure smooth delivery of content and required services.

• What are the technical requirements to teach with VR?

  - VR headsets - each participant will need a VR headset (at the moment only Pico headsets are supported - see technology page). Each INSEAD site has a fleet of headsets you can use on site or we can support in getting headsets to off-campus locations.

  - Wifi connection - The VR experience will be installed in all devices enrolled to the session, enabling a smooth virtual experience. Playing of each segment is controlled either by the learner (self-paced) or by a facilitator who would choose which segment to show, when to pause, and when to hold a discussion. The facilitator controls the segments through a web-based dashboard that controls and synchronizes all devices registered for the session. 

• Can I use Immersive cases when teaching on-line sessions? What about hybrid sessions?

VR enables immersive teaching in any format - on campus session, remote sessions where everyone is online, and any mix between these. The only requirement is that the learner has a device and a basic wifi connection. The devices are controlled via a web based dashboard, which provides real-time control over the contents displayed.

• Isn’t this sort of a hassle? Is it really worth it?

VR opens a whole new way of teaching and delivering engaging and effective content in class. However, there are certain aspects where VR really shines, while in other instances it might not be the optimal medium. If you would like to take your learners to a specific place, show them a unique process, or embed them in a complex social interaction - VR is the ultimate learning platform. Not only is it effective, but it is also cost effective. If your teaching focuses on financial models and all you care about is numbers and spreadsheets, VR might not be the right medium for your needs.

• I have an idea for a great Immersive case! How can I produce it? 

That’s what we are here for! The INSEAD-VR initiative has set out to create a comprehensive library of immersive cases that would be used by faculty and professionals everywhere. When developing a new case, we usually start at the end - defining the takeaways and learning objectives, according to these we design and produce an engaging experience. 

Our immersive experiences are either documentary based or full scripted narratives, while using live-action 360 productions, or computer generated environments as well as virtual humans.

• Will Immersive cases replace me one day?

No! Immersive cases are there to augment and leverage your teaching, making you a much better teacher, and your learners better equipped to deal with the challenges reality will force them to confront. 

• What other uses are there for VR technologies except for teaching?

VR is in many other ways in the industry, for example, in sales processes VR can substitute the need to physically be in a location, you can experience the product, move it around and train to use it, just like in real life. VR is also used for social conferencing, the sense of presence allows people to feel as if they are actually standing next to each other. VR is also used for therapeutic purposes, applied to help those suffering from trauma, anxieties, and depression.

• Can I use the data generated from teaching session for my research? Are there any privacy issues?

Yes! VR is the ultimate behavioural lab. Not only do you get reliable and real time data, but you can also collect implicit measures and record the actual behaviour of the participants within the experience. VR can track head orientation, search tactics, decision making approaches, and other measures that can be aggregated and used for research.

• What about using other XR technologies in teaching?

At the moment, VR is the only mature technology in the XR space, and is robust and reliable for teaching. In the future we plan to add AR (augmented reality) capabilities and intertwine these with other modalities (Mixed Reality). In the INSEAD-VR Hub at INSEAD’s middle east campus we are planning a room-scale VR experience, where teams can interact with the physical space, and learn like nowhere else.

• How can I experience Immersive cases before I decide to use this in my class?

It’s easy - contact us and we’ll arrange for a headset to reach you at your preferred location.