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This interview study offers educators practical tips on using tools to improve online learning experiences. Eleven instructors, professors, and instructional designers were interviewed about the challenges they faced designing and teaching online university courses in Florida. This study aimed to explore how educators and instructional designers innovated learning design to improve instructor presence, engagement, and interactivity. In the wake of a pandemic that expedited the adoption of online learning, this paper is intended to offer advice for educators transitioning from emergency remote learning to strategic online course design that integrates emerging technology. This paper is intended to share what educators learned by experimenting with interactive 360-degree multimedia, virtual reality, videography, and visual design in learning management systems. Some of the tools featured in this paper include Roblox, Flipside, Plotagon, Articulate 360, Canvas, Kaltura, and video conferencing apps.
Keywords: Articulate 360, Canvas, eLearning, instructional design, online learning, Roblox, video, video conferencing, virtual reality (VR), 360-degree
INTRODUCTION
While to some, it may feel like we are back to normal, it would be a shame if we found ourselves in the same spot we began after living through such a turbulent time of innovation. We must not be so eager to forget the COVID19 pandemic that we fail to process the moments of magic that grew out of the turmoil. The landscape of learning evolved at a supernatural speed. While educators were busy recovering from whiplash, the future arrived. Companies poured millions of dollars into expediting immersive technology to create a new reality. Hired.com called 2020 the year of augmented and virtual reality when they reported a 1,400% increase in augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) engineering job openings (Patel, 2020). In 2022, the edtech company Labster raised $47 million to build an "eduverse." Then, Meta announced a $150 million immersive learning project (Whitford, 2022). The money will help 10 universities open their metaverse campuses equipped with Meta Quest VR headsets for students. Educators are now on a fast track to adopt higher quality technology that was too cost prohibitive to even imagine before the pandemic. We are about to enter the coming of age that instructional technologists have been waiting for.
Massive investments in immersive virtual learning have not only been coming from the Zuckerbergs of the...