This blog post is brought to you by Jasmine Snowden (University of Southampton) Heidi Singleton and Debbie Holley (Bournemouth University). Jasmine is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Southampton with experience across Children’s and Adolescents Mental Health Settings (CAMHS), including inpatient, community and eating disorders. Heidi is a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University and has over twenty years of teaching experience and children’s nursing experience. Debbie’s research interests are in immersive, virtual and augmented realities to enhance the student experience, inside and outside the formal classroom. From this piece, we hope readers gain some insights into using 360 VR in teaching and how this could be adapted to other settings.
Bridging Theory and Practice
Health professionals in training spend a significant amount of time in clinical practice, yet students often report feeling underprepared and lacking in confidence when entering these settings (Lockertsen et al., 2023). These concerns are not unique to healthcare; they echo across disciplines where theory/practice gaps exist, especially in light of post-COVID disruptions to experiential learning (Morley & Holley 2022).
This blog post outlines our approach to co-creating 360° virtual reality (VR) video simulations with students as a pedagogically rich, low-cost, and scalable solution to bridge that gap. Simulation-based education is increasingly used in healthcare training, offering a safe space to practice communication and decision-making skills. It’s associated with improvements in learning self-efficacy, problem-solving, and communication (Ma et al., 2023). Students value these opportunities to rehearse real-life scenarios without the pressure of live performance (Bayram & Caliskan, 2019). Though our case study focuses on mental health nurse education, the method is widely applicable across disciplines—from social work and teacher training to business and engineering.
Why 360° VR?
A 360° VR video captures a scene in all directions, so you can see every aspect and angle of a teaching/learning scenario by moving your head. This allows learners to explore the environment freely, looking up, down, and side to side—using either a VR headset or a mobile device. This immersive technology supports experiential learning, enabling students to observe, reflect, and discuss authentic scenarios in a low-risk environment. This provides an environment to discuss realistic scenarios and witness real-life situations in preparation to support practice application in practice and OSCE (Object Structured Clinical Examinations).
However, challenges remain, including time, staffing, and cost, especially for high-fidelity simulations (Andersen et al., 2021). Access to equipment and simulation spaces can be limited, and development of quality scenarios is time-consuming. To address these barriers, innovative approaches are needed. As Huai et al. (2024) suggest, the most effective simulations integrate virtual and real-world experiences, supporting learner transition between the two. In our project, we collaborated with mental health nursing students to co-create two short 360° simulation videos. These are designed not as perfect demonstrations, but as discussion starters—realistic, thought-provoking, and grounded in practice.
The Videos: Learning Through Immersion
🌀 The Anxious Patient – View on YouTube
🌀 Communicating During a Mental Health Episode – View on YouTube
What Students Told Us
“I felt a lot more confident after. I knew more than I thought… I think these videos would help other student nurses, yes, if they watched them a few times.” — MH3
“I think the video would be beneficial for third-year students of any field. It’s good to see how nurses work in a team.” — CYPa
“To be able to look up, and pause whenever they need… I never had anything like that going on to placement.” — CYPb
*Children’s and Young People’s nursing student (CYP) * Mental Health nursing student (MH)
From the thematic analysis of feedback, students reported feeling more confident and better prepared to communicate with patients in mental health settings. They appreciated the ability to observe peer performance, repeat and pause the video as needed, and reflect in a non-pressured environment—consistent with broader findings on the value of self-paced, immersive learning (Singleton et al., 2022).
Staff feedback
Teaching staff have observed a noticeable improvement in students’ assessment responses since the introduction of immersive learning experiences. Responses are not only more detailed, but they also demonstrate a deeper understanding of the subject matter, suggesting that the immersive approach is fostering greater engagement and retention.
Based on this positive feedback, staff have proposed refinements to how the immersive content is delivered. The recommendation is to primarily offer the large, partially immersive experience—displayed on a big screen—to the majority of students. This format allows for a shared, quiet learning environment where students can focus and absorb the content without the potential distractions or technical complexities of full VR.
For those students who wish to explore the fully immersive version using Oculus Quest VR headsets, smaller breakout groups will be organised. This ensures that each student receives ample support from learning technologists and student ambassadors, who will be on hand to assist with the technical setup and guide the experience. Keeping these sessions small also helps maintain a quiet environment conducive to concentration. Additionally, staff are mindful of accessibility and student comfort. Some learners—particularly those prone to motion sickness or migraines—may prefer the partially immersive option. Offering both formats gives students the flexibility to choose the experience that best suits their individual needs while still benefiting from the educational value of immersive content.
Implications for Learning Developers
University educators across disciplines can, with recent cost reductions of equipment, consider integrating immersive and semi-immersive technologies into their teaching practice.
While scalability, cost, and staff development are valid concerns, 360° video offers an accessible entry point. These videos can be recorded with relatively inexpensive equipment (starting at around £250), and although editing can be time-consuming, using a single-take approach can streamline production. Interactive elements such as quizzes and additional information can easily be added using tools like Thinglink™.The videos can be curated on a Youtube™ channel, and this then enables embedding into more formal learning environments like University VLEs, but also enables access on a student’s device of choice – typically their mobile phone.
Students report their preference for their own peers and staff they know appearing in these productions. In our case, students reported feeling well-supported and relaxed during the session, though many still found the idea of being observed and recorded to be the most challenging aspect of the simulation.
Beyond Healthcare: Cross-Disciplinary Applications
While these examples come from nursing, the pedagogical principles apply across disciplines. Immersive video can simulate client interviews, team meetings, fieldwork, lab scenarios, or even classroom management. It supports active learning, peer learning, and reflective practice—all of which align with inclusive, student-centered pedagogy.
While our focus has been on mental health nursing, the potential of 360° VR extends far beyond healthcare. Its immersive and flexible nature makes it a valuable tool across a wide range of academic and professional disciplines, supporting experiential learning, contextual understanding, and reflective practice.
In tourism and hospitality, 360° VR can be used to simulate guided tours, customer service encounters, or behind-the-scenes hotel operations. Students can explore cultural sites, observe guest interactions, or even role-play as frontline staff in multilingual environments. This technology provides a cost-effective way to expose learners to international destinations and industry standards—ideal for preparing students for placements or global careers without the need for travel.
In engineering and built environment courses, 360° VR enables learners to virtually walk through construction sites, inspect infrastructure projects, or examine machinery in action. It can support hazard identification exercises, showcase project lifecycle stages, or help students visualise structural design concepts. For fields like civil engineering, where safety and site access are critical concerns, 360° video offers a safe, scalable alternative to on-site visits while maintaining realism.
Across these subjects, 360° VR enhances student engagement by making abstract or complex scenarios more tangible. When co-created with students or industry partners, the simulations also foster authenticity and peer relevance—powerful drivers of meaningful learning. As disciplines continue to evolve toward more experiential, student-led pedagogies, tools like 360° video offer a bridge between theoretical learning and real-world readiness.
What next?
There are excellent examples available as Open Education Resources on YouTube (search for YouTube 360) and here are some examples to explore. The optimal experience is showing these in a fully immersive mode (OCULUS QUESTS); but low-tech solutions can be included when working with student groups – including create the Google cardboard holders as part of the session (https://developers.google.com/cardboard/manufacturers)
Examples:
Engineering: base a session on aerobatic flight
Experience the Blue Angels in 360-degree video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6SsB3JYqQg
Storytelling, politics, discussion, social sciences – this example follows a Syrian refugee child’s daily life.
Climate change, Antarctica, Geography – onboard an ice-cutter ship
360 Antarctica from National Geographic
There is an LD@3 session about google cardboards and different kinds of technologies available here:
With the increasing availability of learning analytics, educators can use student feedback and viewing data to iterate and refine their content. 360° VR isn’t just for specialist tech teams anymore—it’s a practical, pedagogically sound tool for today’s blended learning environments.
Gen AI statement:
This post was written by the three authors, and ChatGPT used to polish the final version. The 360 videos were directed and recorded by Learning Technologist John Moran.
Bios
Jasmine Snowden is a Mental Health Lecturer at the University of Southampton. Her interests include innovative approaches to mental health education, with a focus on simulation, student wellbeing, and immersive learning technologies.
Heidi Singleton is a Children’s Nursing Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University with a keen interest in simulation-based education and the use of 360° video to support student learning.
Debbie Holley is a Professor of Learning Innovation at Bournemouth University. Her work focuses on immersive technologies, digital learning, and enhancing student engagement through innovative teaching and learning approaches.
References
Anderson, J.E., Ross, A. (2021). Human Factors Applications of Simulation. In: Deutsch, E.S., Perry, S.J., Gurnaney, H.G. (eds) Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation: Improving Healthcare Systems. Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72973-8_2
Bayram B, & Caliskan N. 2019. Effect of a game-based virtual reality phone application on tracheostomy care education for nursing students: A randomized controlled trial. Nurse Education Today, 79: 25-31.
Huai, P., Li, Y., Wang, X., Zhang, L., Liu, N., & Yang, H. (2024). The effectiveness of virtual reality technology in student nurse education: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nurse education today, 106189.
Lakeman, R. (2020). Advanced empathy: A key to supporting people experiencing psychosis or other extreme states. Psychotherapy and counselling journal of Australia, 8(1)
Lockertsen, Ø., Løvhaug, L., Davik, N. K., Bølgen, B. R., Færden, A., & Skarstein, S. (2023). Second-year undergraduate nursing students’ experiences with clinical simulation training in mental health clinical practice: A focus group study. Nurse Education in Practice, 66, 103534.
Ma J, Lee Y, & Kang J. 2023. Standardized patient simulation for more effective undergraduate nursing education: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 74: 19-37.
Morley, D.A. and Holley, D., 2022. Interrogating the Established Knowledge and Practice Base of COVID-19 Higher Education Learning. Agile Learning Environments amid Disruption: Evaluating Academic Innovations in Higher Education during COVID-19. 19-34.
Shaw-Metz, J. L. (2023). Coming up for air: Breathwork practice for stress management in the healthcare setting. Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice, 30, 100594.
Singleton H, James J, Falconer L, Holley D, Priego-Hernandez J, Beavis J, & Penfold S. 2022. Effect of non-immersive virtual reality simulation on type 2 diabetes education for nursing students: A randomised controlled trial. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 66: 50-57.
Fabulous and inspirational work! I have shared with our Nursing and Forensic Science Teams specifically – and of course I have shared everywhere else I could too!