Work-in-Progress—Extended Reality Pilots for Hybrid Learning: a New NUFlex for Northeastern University

The COVID-19 pandemic forced Northeastern University (NU) to pivot to virtual in Spring 2020 and spurred innovations in hybrid learning called NUFlex that were implemented starting in Fall 2020. However, for many courses and topics taught at NU standard hybrid learning is insufficient to create the ideal pedagogical experience for both students and instructors. Extended reality technologies such as augmented, mixed, and virtual reality can be leveraged to make the NUFlex experience more dynamic and immersive. We are developing best practices and pilots that blend XR technologies with course activities through iterative improvement while collecting student reflections, work samples, and survey data, that we present in this Work-in-Progress. We hope that these technologies can be scaled into other courses in the future.