Insider Spaces : Hands-on with XR in the Global Languages & Cultures Room

Adult learners benefit from a playful approach to learning (Whitton, 2018). Similarly, students experiencing immersive learning using virtual reality headsets can benefit from a playful and exploratory approach to language and culture learning (Arnold, 1979), which includes the opportunity to experiment and create content using accessible, code-free, and easy-to-adopt media and Maker techniques. This article proposes that this kind of content creation projects for students can result in an increased understanding and appreciation of the affordances of immersive technologies, especially when applied to cultural learning and second language acquisition. In these projects, students produce outcomes by learning to work together, use tools, develop skills, and reflect on their place within the work, as artistmakers, as language learners, and as creators of culture. Learners are encouraged to reflect on their process of Making, and in doing so broaden that reflection to encompass ideas around culture and language, the essence of their creative process coming from conceptual inquiry as much as from the practical Making. We propose ways to adopt immersive technologies and use a dedicated Maker and creator space to facilitate effective innovative language and culture pedagogy— one that might better support learning through creative exploration.