“VR Zones:” New Teaching-Learning Spaces with Virtual Reality

Tec de Monterrey has inaugurated four new “VR Zones” available to its students on the Saltillo, Chihuahua, Toluca, and San Luis Potosí campuses, offering an immersive and innovative learning ecosystem to complement their training.

In 2019, pursuing the objectives of the Tec21 Educational Model, Tec de Monterrey opened seven innovative “VR Zones,” spaces dedicated to immersive learning with virtual reality, on its campuses in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Puebla, Querétaro, Mexico City, State of Mexico, and Santa Fe. The four new institutional spaces recently inaugurated bring the total of these “Zones” to 11 to impart knowledge and develop skills in digital environments experientially, actively, and flexibly.

These educational spaces offer immersive experiences through simulations of real environments using avatars and resources in the virtual world, overcoming the problem of complex environments that are difficult to access in person. At the same time, they trigger creativity and interactions, resulting in the development of new competencies through meaningful learning. With these technological tools, students can communicate, interact, and create beyond the limits of face-to-face classroom instruction.

Impact and benefits for students

Some of the benefits that a “VR Zone” brings to student learning are:

• Educational experiences through exploration and discovery in simulated environments without time or space limits.
• Knowing and becoming familiar with original virtual reality information resources created at the institution or available from other sources worldwide.
• Studying independently: preparing for assessments, reviewing subject content, and acquiring new knowledge interesting to the student.
• Conducting team activities guided by the teacher.
• Developing skills to meet the demands of today’s work world.

Regarding increasing the number of “VR Zones” available to students, Juan Pablo Murra, Rector of Professional and Postgraduate of the institution, said during the inauguration, “Tecnológico de Monterrey is committed to training leaders with the skills and competencies necessary to solve the current and future challenges of society. In Mexico and Latin America, we have been pioneers in educational innovation. We will continue to promote the use of new technologies to enrich the learning experience in classrooms and spaces for our students and teaching community.”

With this opening, more than 70,000 students and 3,500 faculty on 11 campuses now have “VR Zones” enabled in libraries and 48 virtual reality stations, facilitating the learning of a wide variety of disciplines, such as Art and Design, Literature, Business, Social Sciences, Medicine, Engineering and Humanities.

This project has been possible thanks to the great teamwork and synergy of different areas of Tecnologico de Monterrey. Interested teachers of the institution can consult CEDDIE to train in designing immersive learning activities with virtual reality for their classes.

For more information, we invite you to visit the website “Educational Innovation at Tec de Monterrey,” sections: Educational spaces and Immersive learning.

Perla Tellez Garza

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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0