Immersive Education Working Group Report - Recommendations to Government, 2024.

Eirmersive has a strong focus on the skills side of our sector. An important element of that is promoting and supporting the adoption of immersive technologies across the broad spectrum of education. As such we were truly honoured to have the opportunity in 2024 to convene a group of visionary educators drawn from every level of education in Ireland, including primary, secondary, tertiary, and further education as well as representatives from the private sector.

The working group took the form of round-table discussions where the group shared their inspiring case studies, their challenges and their triumphs. Our final group session focused on formulating Recommendations for Government by asking how can we integrate Immersive Technologies, that have been proven to elevate learning, into our existing educational frameworks?

We look forward to a continuing relationship with the educators from this working group and to finding ways to support the excellent work they are doing with immersive technologies across schools, colleges, universities, Education Training Boards, and more. The applications of immersive technologies in education are incredibly broad and it's hugely valuable when the trailblazers can communicate to us on what is working and where they see results.

We want to help ensure networks across academia such as the VIRTUE network, which aims to revolutionise education through the integration of virtual immersive reality technologies, can find the funding to continue their work. Networks like Eirmersive and VIRTUE provide vehicles for joined-up thinking, which is so key in a nascent and fragmented sector.

The body of evidence in this report and the resulting recommendations are just the beginning. Next, Eirmersive will be working on identifying partners and key stakeholders to forge an action plan, assign responsibilities and identify funding opportunities. We look to connect with the National Skills Council, Tertiary Office as well as the Department of Further and Higher Education in that regard. Taking action on the recommendations is crucial, to ensure Ireland keeps pace with international best practices.

We'd like again to thank the members of the Working Group who all gave so generously of their time, and Dr. Zeta Dooly, who went above and beyond. We would also like to acknowledge the support of Meta without whom this body of work would not have been possible. And we’d like to express our sincere gratitude to the Minister of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science - Patrick O'Donovan, TD - for kindly, and enthusiastically receiving the report.

Download the full report here, and the Executive Summary here.