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

Oct 15, 2026

Adult learners can benefit from playful, exploratory approaches to language and culture learning. This article argues that immersive learning with VR and related XR technologies enables students to create accessible, code-free content through maker techniques, strengthening understanding and appreciation of immersive affordances for cultural learning and second language acquisition. Student projects emphasize collaboration, tool use, skill development, and reflective inquiry into how making connects culture, language, and pedagogy through dedicated maker and creator spaces.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryTechnology

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Immersive technologies and language/culture learning

Immersive content creation projects and constructivist pedagogy

calico journal (online) issn 2056–9017 Article Insider Spaces: Hands-on with XR in the Global Languages & Cultures Room Stephan Caspar 1 Abstract 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 ofimmersive 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. Keywords:Makerspace, Maker, virtual reality, pedagogy, XR, augmented reality, constructivism, language, culture, learning, higher education, technology enhanced learning, blended learning, immersive technologies, technology. Affiliation 1Department of Modern Languages, Dietrich College, Carnegie Mellon University, USA. email: [scaspar@andrew.cmu.edu](scaspar@andrew.cmu.edu) calico journal vol 38.1 2021 128–150 [https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.41528](https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.41528) © 2021, equinox publishing Stephan Caspar 129 Introduction As new immersive virtual and augmented technologies designed primarily for the gaming and entertainment industry become more and more accessible, opportunities exist for academics and educators to adopt this technology into their teaching and research; and for students and learners to engage not only as viewers or spectators, but increasingly as content creators, assuming roles of designers and developers. Immersive technologies can facilitate the exploration of the concepts of presence, empathy, point of view, and interaction. An immersive technology is one that blurs the boundary between the physical and virtual worlds, and enables users to experience a sense of immersion (Lee, Chung, & Lee, 2012). We may experience this in many ways; for example, virtual reality (VR) can be experienced using a head-mounted display (HMD), or in the case of augmented reality (AR) through a smartphone or tablet interface using a front-facing camera. However, we might even experience immersion using digital projection where a virtual or augmented world is projected onto a physical surface. We encounter these experiences in the games and entertainment industry, and increasingly in museums, galleries, and public spaces where audiences can interface with this technology. For educators and practitioners working in the areas of language and culture, these technologies offer interesting new lines of inquiry and exploration with great potential for learning and research. This article explores the ways educators, approaching the delivery of their courses through a constructivist model (Piaget, 2006), can set immersive content creation projects for their students to leverage the affordances of immersive technologies for language learning and cultural study. Conventional wisdom has long held that the best way to learn a language and its culture is through immersion in that culture. The already low degree of partic

FAQs

What does the article propose immersive XR content creation projects can achieve for learners?

It proposes that student content creation projects increase understanding and appreciation of immersive technologies’ affordances, especially for cultural learning and second language acquisition.

How can maker techniques support language and culture learning in this framework?

The approach encourages learners to experiment and create content using accessible, code-free media and Maker techniques, while reflecting on making as both practical production and conceptual cultural inquiry.

What role do educators and students take with immersive technologies in language education?

Educators can set immersive content creation projects using a constructivist delivery model, while students engage not only as viewers but increasingly as designers and developers who create learning experiences.

Oct 15, 2026

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