Training and education with immersive technologies

• HR, OSH and corporate learningHow to roll out, run and measure VR training; safety, occupational health and GDPR.Implementation →
• Teachers and schoolsWhich apps and formats suit the classroom and what to watch out for with children.VR in schools →
• Students and researchersTheory of immersion, the CAMIL model, an overview of studies and citable sources.What research says →
• Business leadersWhen an investment in VR pays off, the break-even point versus classroom training and where the market is heading.Calculator →

4 types of immersion

• sensory-motor

  Tactical immersion

  Tactical immersion is easiest to explain with a player in a fast-paced action game - a shooter, for example. Higher cognitive functions are suppressed; the player feels part of the game and visual stimuli turn straight into finger movements controlling the character.

  To keep tactical immersion going, the user must only face challenges they can solve in a split second. The longer they need to think, the more it fades. That is why the interface has to be intuitive, natural and, above all, reliable.

• cognitive

  Strategic immersion

  Strategic immersion is best illustrated by a chess master focused on finding the best sequence of future moves that strengthens their position and leads to checkmate.

  It is a cerebral kind of engagement tied to a mental challenge. Actions are preceded by observation, calculation and analytical reasoning that shape a strategy. It requires the simulation to behave logically and predictably; graphics play a minor role.

• emotional

  Narrative immersion

  Narrative immersion is immersion in a story, just like reading a book or watching a film. The user wants to know how the story ends; tactical and strategic elements play a minor role.

  It starts and ends with the quality and suspense of the story. In education it is used, for example, in soft-skills scenarios where a conversation carries emotional weight.

• perceptual

  Spatial immersion

  Spatial immersion occurs when the user’s senses are convinced (sight, hearing, touch…) that the simulated world is real. They feel they are really “there” and that the world looks and feels “real”. This type of immersion is the domain of VR headsets.

The Cognitive Affective Model of Immersive Learning (CAMIL)

The CAMIL model (Makransky and Petersen, University of Copenhagen, 2021) describes how immersive VR affects learning. Immersion creates a sense of presence and agency, which act on learning outcomes through six affective and cognitive factors. Importantly, the model also accounts for the downside: cognitive load can reduce the benefit.

A related concept is telepresence - the subjective feeling of being present in a scene mediated by technology. Apart from display fidelity, human factors play a part: it is a subjective perception that technology only creates or filters.

Comparison of immersive learning formats

Not every training needs a headset. The table gives a rough comparison from the simplest formats to the most demanding; costs refer to content production and equipment.

Interactive digital content

Computers, tablets and smartphones brought platforms with digital learning content. The interactive form makes subjects more engaging and easier to grasp. Besides app stores, there are cross-platform apps that run right in the browser without installation.

• Google PlayEducational apps for Android
• App StoreEducational apps for iOS
• Microsoft StoreEducational apps for Windows
• Web browserCross-platform, no installation

A more sophisticated platform is, for example, Corinth - a library of over 1,500 interactive 3D models linked to the primary and secondary school curriculum, with blank maps for testing, personal notes and embedding models into presentations.

Key studies and meta-analyses

When VR works and when it does not

Studies agree that VR helps most with practising procedures and spatial or motor skills, with situations that cannot be safely trained for real, and with motivation. For factual knowledge that can simply be read, the benefit is small or none - and an overloaded environment can even make learning worse.

In practice this means: short, focused scenarios, theory outside the headset and reflection after training - summing up in your own words or a debrief with a trainer helps turn the experience into knowledge.

Virtual reality systems use either head-mounted displays (headsets) with screens in front of the user’s eyes or multi-projection rooms with several large screens (CAVE). In both cases the user is surrounded by a digitally created environment in which they can move. VR usually includes sight and sound, but it can also provide touch and force feedback through haptic technologies.

How virtual reality works - the illusion of a real world

Virtual reality lets the user step into a simulated environment and act in it. By engaging sight, hearing, touch and other senses, it aims for an experience with the strongest possible subjective sense of reality - put simply, the illusion of a real or fictional world of which the user is a natural part.

History of virtual reality - from the 1950s to today

1. 1960Telesphere MaskHeilig’s patent for a head-mounted display
2. 1962Sensoramaa multi-sensory “experience theatre”
3. 1968First HMDSutherland and Sproull, University of Utah
4. 1980sNASA VIEWheadset and data gloves
5. 2012-2016A new waveOculus Rift, PC headsets with sensors
6. 2019Standalone headsetsVR without a PC or cables
7. 2023-2026Mixed realitycolour passthrough, hand tracking, AI

In the early days the technology was limited and extremely expensive, so VR was used only where it was essential. The turning point came in 2012, when Oculus Rift started a new wave of PC headsets (consumer versions in 2016). Console and mobile versions followed, and since 2019 standalone headsets that need neither a PC nor cables. Today’s headsets also handle mixed reality, hand tracking and voice control.

Education and training in virtual reality today

With VR, students and employees can explore in detail how mechanisms, machines, space and processes behave - without the risk of injury, damage or disrupting production. They can repeat the practice until they master the procedure while the app records mistakes and time. Digital training is also flexible: it can be distributed instantly to any location as long as devices are available. Training that involves movement needs free space.

What can be trained in VR?

Virtual and augmented reality are becoming a normal part of education. Today they are commonly used to teach a range of skills:

• Hard skills

  Occupational safety, technical training and onboarding, healthcare, emergency drills, foreign languages

• Soft skills

  Coaching, diversity and inclusion, customer service, public speaking

• Schools

  Geography, history, biology, technical subjects and virtual field trips

Hard skills

Hard skills can be proven by a certificate (qualification) or measured (knowledge of information and procedures). They can be taught and are usually passed on through formal education, practice or onboarding. Using VR to practise them brings several advantages:

• No harm to health or property when teaching high-risk skills and highly qualified technical training (from defence and aviation to energy, medicine and simulations of potentially fatal scenarios)
• An engaging, meaningful form of learning with minimal distractions
• No need to block a production or training line during the course

Safety procedures and protocols

Occupational safety and health (OSH) training is recurring training focused on safe and efficient work. In VR it can be taken on demand, as an experience of doing the job, of the existing risks and of the consequences of ignoring them - individually and without disrupting operations.

VR safety training can be custom-built or taken from off-the-shelf course libraries covering topics such as:

• Warehouse safety
• Fire safety
• Personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Safety in an industrial plant
• Hand injury prevention
• Construction site safety
• Postural ergonomics
• Road safety
• …

Technical training and onboarding

Construction, maintenance, electrical work, plumbing and other industries share hazardous environments that require correct work procedures. Traditional onboarding is led by an experienced worker whose productivity drops in the meantime. VR lets new colleagues go through the basics on their own and arrive at the experienced colleague already prepared.

• Working at height
• Operating an overhead crane
• Handling electrical equipment
• Hazard recognition in an industrial plant
• Fall protection
• Operating a forklift
• Operating a mobile elevating work platform
• Confined spaces
• Lockout/tagout (LOTO)
• Offshore platform work
• …

Technical training also includes VR training for healthcare and medical professions, where research shows the greatest benefit for practical skills (see the studies in nursing and surgery). Besides practising procedures, VR combined with AI is used for patient communication and empathy - staff can “experience”, for example, loss of sight or hearing.

• Surgical training in VR
• Surgical skills in VR
• VR for nursing training
• Healthcare training in VR

Soft skills

Soft skills are personal attributes related to how people work: communication, conflict resolution, creative and critical thinking, reliability, empathy, time management. In VR they are trained through role-play scenarios; thanks to generative AI, characters now respond freely rather than following pre-scripted branches.

Coaching and giving feedback to employees

• Diversity and inclusion

  The trainee sits with colleagues at a conference table and overhears a derogatory remark about another colleague. In the simulation they must decide how to react, learning to recognise unconscious bias and handle microaggressions.

• Retail and customer service

  Employees practise returns, questions and dealing with upset customers. They start their first shift more confident, which shows in sales and in the company’s reputation.

• Public speaking

  VR puts the speaker in front of a small meeting or a full hall. The app can assess pace, filler words, eye contact with the audience or the structure of the talk and give feedback.

Virtual reality in schools

Besides virtual worlds, VR lets pupils visit places in the real world - in the past, present and imagined future. When choosing, consider the headset makers’ age limits (see Safety and health) and short sessions; for a whole class, rotating through a few headsets is usually more practical than one headset each.

• Geography and exploring the world

  Take pupils virtually to places related to the topic. Content from the former Google Expeditions app (discontinued in 2021) moved to Google Arts & Culture.

  • Google Earth VR
  • Google Arts & Culture
  • VR Expeditions

• History

  Let pupils experience a historical event - the launch of Apollo 11 or the sinking of the Titanic.

  • Apollo 11 VR
  • Titanic VR

• Biology

  VR is a great tool for exploring human and animal anatomy in detail and at real scale. Students better understand the structure of the body, the skeleton, muscles and how organs work.

  • Virtual Medicine

VR hardware

Virtual reality is entered through a headset. Today standalone headsets with their own computing power and battery dominate; they also handle mixed reality (colour passthrough) and control by hands, voice or eyes. Demanding simulations use headsets connected to a powerful PC. Cheap cardboard phone viewers and headsets without positional tracking (3DoF) are on the way out.

For businesses the market changed significantly in 2026: on 20 February 2026 Meta ended its business programme - it no longer sells business editions of Quest or the Horizon managed services device management. Companies can still buy regular Quest headsets, but central management has to go through third-party MDM (e.g. ArborXR, ManageXR), or they choose a platform with its own business management.

AR became widespread with powerful smartphones and the ARKit (Apple, 2017) and ARCore (Google, 2018) frameworks, which let a phone recognise floors, walls and lighting. Simpler AR now also runs right in the browser (WebAR) without installing an app - just scan a QR code.

We meet AR more often than we realise: graphics in sports broadcasts, camera filters on phones, navigation, product previews in your room or digital humans. An overview of AR types with demos is on our Augmented reality page.

Types of triggers for digital objects in augmented reality

• marker-based

  Marker-based

  The AR layer appears when the camera captures a specific anchor - a marker (QR code, sign, image, object…). An example is a textbook page that “comes to life” with an animation when you point a phone at it.

• markerless

  Markerless

  Digital objects are placed into the captured space at the user’s request (e.g. furniture in a room). The app recognises floors, walls and lighting and needs no fixed anchor.

• location-based

  Location-based

  Digital objects are tied to specific places (GPS, compass, spatial map) - navigation arrows in the camera view or the game Pokémon Go. The most demanding approach, using data from many sensors.

• projection-based

  Projection on surfaces

  The image is projected directly onto real surfaces (a table, wall, part in production), for example as instructions on where to reach.

• superimposition-based

  Object superimposition

  The app recognises an object and partially or fully overlays it with another image - for example an “X-ray” view inside a machine.

Augmented reality in education

Learning in context sparks curiosity. AR delivers information on demand, at the right level of detail and right where it is needed - at the machine, in the textbook, in the field. Compared with VR it is cheaper, needs no enclosed space and the user stays in touch with their surroundings.

1. Interactive enhancement of printed and digital materials

Spatial and dynamic topics (mechanisms, anatomy, physical processes) are hard to explain with text and static images. An AR layer over a textbook or manual shows them in 3D, in motion and from any angle, while the material stays clear. You can try it on our AR for printed matter page.

2. Instructions and knowledge bases right at the machine

Maintenance or setup procedures can be anchored directly on the equipment: the worker points a tablet or glasses and sees step by step where to reach. Instructions can also be created simply - by filming your own procedure - and a knowledge platform stores them and makes them available to authorised people. This is just-in-time learning in practice.

3. Remote assistance

Augmented reality in schools

A Czech example is the interactive physics textbook FyzikAR 7 for 7th grade with 47 animations, worksheets, questions and real-life tasks; its author later followed up with the Vividbooks textbooks. For lesson ideas, see also Apple’s guide to using iPad and AR in education.

AR hardware

The term comes from the paper “A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays” (Milgram and Kishino, 1994), which described the reality-virtuality continuum. At one end is the real environment, at the other a fully virtual one; mixed reality is everything in between: reality enhanced with digital elements (augmented reality) and the opposite - a virtual world with elements of reality inserted, such as an image of your own hands or the desk. More recent work adds that perfect virtuality cannot be reached - the user’s body remains in the real world - so even today’s VR sits just short of the end of the continuum (Skarbez et al., 2021).

How devices blend the real and the virtual

Mixed reality hardware and uses

Only a few years ago, blending the real and the virtual required specialised and expensive devices (HoloLens, Magic Leap). Today it is a standard feature of most standalone headsets (Meta Quest 3, Pico 4 Ultra, HTC Vive Focus Vision) and premium devices (Apple Vision Pro, Samsung Galaxy XR); see the headset table for an overview and prices. For training, scenarios that blend real and virtual environments offer these advantages:

• Training on real equipment: digital guidance over a real machine, control panel or manikin - for example CPR practice on a manikin with a virtual scene around it.
• Safety and awareness of surroundings: users see the space, obstacles and colleagues, so they can walk around and collaborate, and discomfort tends to be lower than in full VR.
• Remote collaboration: a shared view, 3D models and markers in space let a trainer guide a trainee without being in the same room.
• Hands free: hand and eye tracking and voice control let users work with real tools and digital elements at the same time.
• A training ground anywhere: wireless headsets can be used in a workshop, on a building site, in a classroom or a control room.
• One device for everything: the same headset handles MR and full VR, which simplifies purchasing and management.

When VR training pays off

Break-even calculator

Classroom training costs roughly the same per participant (trainer, working time, materials, downtime). VR has high one-off costs but low costs per additional participant - so above a certain number of trainees it becomes cheaper. The PwC study puts the break-even point versus the classroom at 375 learners; calculate yours from your own figures:

Rollout step by step

1. Phase 1Preparation
   1. Pick one task

      Start with one specific training where the problem is visible (injuries, errors, long onboarding, expensive equipment).

   2. Set a measurable goal

      E.g. shorter onboarding, fewer errors in the first independent work, a higher test pass rate. Measure the baseline.

   3. Off-the-shelf or custom?

      General topics (safety, fire, PPE) are covered by ready-made course libraries; specific machines and processes need a custom simulation.

2. Phase 2Pilot
   4. Pilot with a small group

      Compare a VR group with a conventionally trained one. Also track discomfort, how easy the controls are and preparation time.

   5. Hardware and management

      Choose headsets with device management (MDM) and sort out charging, hygiene, storage and space for movement.

3. Phase 3Rollout
   6. Build it into the process

      Theory outside the headset, short VR sessions, a debrief with a trainer and verification on the job. VR does not replace the trainer.

   7. Measure and adjust

      Evaluate the goal from step 2, collect feedback and refine the scenarios. Only then expand to other tasks.

How to measure impact

A proven framework is Kirkpatrick’s four-level model. VR has the advantage that the app measures level 2 directly - provided it can export the data (e.g. as xAPI to your LMS).

Questions to ask vendors

• Hardware: which headsets does the content run on, and what if the manufacturer changes its terms (as Meta did in 2026)?
• Device management: MDM support, bulk installation and updates, offline operation.
• Language and localisation: text and voice-over in your employees’ languages, the option to adapt the scenario to your procedures.
• Data and reporting: what the app measures, export to an LMS (xAPI, SCORM), where the data is stored.
• Licensing: pricing per device, user or course; what happens to the content when the subscription ends.
• Content maintenance: who updates the scenario, and at what cost, when a machine or procedure changes.

Safety, health and operations

Cybersickness (VR sickness) is similar to motion sickness, only the other way round: the eyes see motion while the body stays still. It is not a marginal issue: in older studies about one in six participants dropped out because of it, and according to a more recent meta-analysis it grows with time in the headset - the average worsens noticeably after about 25 minutes (Saredakis et al., 2020; You et al., 2026). Plan for it and offer an alternative for those who do not tolerate VR.

• Cybersickness: keep headset sessions to roughly 20-25 minutes, start seated, prefer smooth visuals and teleport instead of artificial walking; stop immediately if symptoms appear.
• Age: manufacturers set minimum ages (Meta Quest from 10 with a parent-managed account, varying by country; many other devices from 13). Schools should take this into account.
• Health warnings: follow the manufacturer’s warnings (e.g. epilepsy, pregnancy, balance disorders) and offer an alternative without a headset.
• Space: a clear area without obstacles, a set boundary (guardian) and a second person supervising scenarios that involve movement.
• Hygiene: washable face covers, disinfection after every user, glasses spacers or prescription inserts.
• Operations: charging, updates and storage - without someone in charge, even a good project quickly stalls.

Law and data

• Occupational safety: VR can be part of training, but where regulations require practical training, an exam or a qualification, it does not replace it. Check the form and scope with your occupational safety specialist and local regulations.
• GDPR: VR apps collect data on performance and behaviour (errors, time, movement, and with some headsets eye gaze). Inform employees what data is processed and why, and check where the vendor stores it.
• AI Act: since 2 February 2025 the EU has prohibited AI systems that infer the emotions of employees or students from voice, facial expressions or other biometric data (Art. 5(1)(f)). The ban applies even with the person’s consent; the only exceptions are medical and safety purposes. It does not cover assessing the content of answers, speaking pace or task accuracy - only inferring emotions. If the AI in a simulation evaluates “tone” or “emotions”, have it reviewed by a lawyer.

• hardware

  Meta ended its business programme

  Since 20 February 2026 Meta no longer sells business editions of Quest or the Horizon managed services device management; existing customers are supported until 4 January 2030. Companies can still buy regular Quests but manage them through third-party MDM - or choose Pico 4 Ultra Enterprise or HTC Vive Focus Vision with their own business management.

• AI

  Conversational AI characters

  Generative AI makes free conversation with a virtual character possible instead of choosing from prepared answers. It helps most with soft skills, sales and patient communication. Mind the AI Act (see Law and data).

• market

  Smart glasses drive growth

  According to IDC, most of the XR market’s growth comes from smart glasses, not headsets. For training, they are so far used more for instructions and assistance than for immersive practice.

• platforms

  New premium headsets

  Apple Vision Pro with the M5 chip (2025), Samsung Galaxy XR with Android XR (2025) and Valve Steam Frame (2026) raise image quality and controls, but for training at scale they are still expensive or hard to get.

• end of support

  The end of HoloLens and Dynamics 365 Guides

  HoloLens 2 production ended in October 2024 and security updates end on 31 December 2027. Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist stop working as early as 31 December 2026 - anyone building training on them has to migrate.

• terminology

  MR is fading, XR unifies

  Microsoft, the main champion of “mixed reality”, discontinued HoloLens and the Windows Mixed Reality platform (Windows 11 24H2). Apple talks about spatial computing, Google about Android XR; Meta still uses “mixed reality” for Quest passthrough. The capabilities the term described are now standard in headsets.

• distribution

  XR in the browser (WebXR)

  Simpler scenarios can run right in a headset or phone browser without installing an app - easier distribution and updates, but lower performance than native apps. More on WebXR platforms and tools.

Immersion

The degree to which technology surrounds the user’s senses and shuts out the outside world.

Presence

The subjective feeling of “being there” in a virtual environment.

Agency

The feeling that one’s own actions influence events in the simulation.

XR

Extended reality - the collective term for VR, AR and MR.

Mixed reality (MR)

Blending the real and the virtual - according to Milgram and Kishino, everything between a real and a fully virtual environment, including AR; there is no single definition.

Spatial computing

Apple’s term for working with digital content anchored in space.

Passthrough

Showing the headset’s camera feed so the user sees their surroundings and the headset can do mixed reality.

3DoF / 6DoF

Degrees of freedom: 3DoF tracks only head rotation, 6DoF also movement in space.

Standalone headset

A headset with its own computing power and battery; it needs no PC or cable.

Guardian (boundary)

A virtual boundary of the safe area; the headset warns you when you cross it.

Cybersickness (VR sickness)

Similar to motion sickness, only reversed: the eyes see motion while the body stays still. It shows as nausea, dizziness or eye strain.

MDM

Mobile Device Management - central management of devices, apps and settings in a company.

xAPI

A standard for recording learning results (also outside an LMS), suitable for VR training data.

Assisted reality

A small display in the field of view (e.g. RealWear) with instructions or a video call; it does not overlay the world with 3D objects.

WebXR

A web standard for running VR and AR content directly in the browser.

1. Bödding, R., Schriek, S. A., & Maier, G. W. (2025). A systematic review and meta-analysis of mixed reality in vocational education and training: examining behavioral, cognitive, and affective training outcomes and possible moderators. Virtual Reality, 29, 44.
2. Kaplan, A. D., Cruit, J., Endsley, M., Beers, S. M., Sawyer, B. D., & Hancock, P. A. (2021). The effects of virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality as training enhancement methods: A meta-analysis. Human Factors, 63(4), 706-726.
3. Kirkpatrick, D. L., & Kirkpatrick, J. D. (2006). Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels (3rd ed.). Berrett-Koehler.
4. Layadi, S., Huguet, P., Pavic, K., … Chevalère, J. (2026). Virtual Reality in Education: A Stratified Meta-Analysis of Experimental Rigor and Bias. Educational Psychology Review, 38, 50.
5. Letrud, K., & Hernes, S. (2018). Excavating the origins of the learning pyramid myths. Cogent Education, 5(1).
6. Lin, M.-Y., Huang, M.-Z., & Lai, P.-C. (2024). Effect of virtual reality training on clinical skills of nursing students: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nurse Education in Practice, 81, 104182.
7. Makransky, G., & Petersen, G. B. (2021). The Cognitive Affective Model of Immersive Learning (CAMIL): A Theoretical Research-Based Model of Learning in Immersive Virtual Reality. Educational Psychology Review, 33, 937-958.
8. Makransky, G., Terkildsen, T. S., & Mayer, R. E. (2019). Adding immersive virtual reality to a science lab simulation causes more presence but less learning. Learning and Instruction, 60, 225-236.
9. Milgram, P., & Kishino, F. (1994). A taxonomy of mixed reality visual displays. IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems, E77-D(12), 1321-1329.
10. PwC (2020). How virtual reality is redefining soft skills training. PricewaterhouseCoopers US.
11. Saredakis, D., Szpak, A., Birckhead, B., Keage, H. A. D., Rizzo, A., & Loetscher, T. (2020). Factors associated with virtual reality sickness in head-mounted displays: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 14, 96.
12. Scorgie, D., Feng, Z., Paes, D., Parisi, F., Yiu, T. W., & Lovreglio, R. (2024). Virtual reality for safety training: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Safety Science, 106372.
13. Seymour, N. E., Gallagher, A. G., Roman, S. A., O'Brien, M. K., Bansal, V. K., Andersen, D. K., & Satava, R. M. (2002). Virtual reality training improves operating room performance: Results of a randomized, double-blinded study. Annals of Surgery, 236(4), 458-464.
14. Skarbez, R., Smith, M., & Whitton, M. C. (2021). Revisiting Milgram and Kishino's Reality-Virtuality Continuum. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 2, 647997.
15. Speicher, M., Hall, B. D., & Nebeling, M. (2019). What is Mixed Reality? In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM.
16. You, A., Choi, J. Y., & Yoo, T. K. (2026). Exposure duration and cybersickness in head-mounted displays: A meta-analysis of threshold effects across virtual and extended reality. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rio.2026.101057

How to cite this publication (APA 7)Nepor, V. (2026, October 5). Training and Education with Immersive Technologies (VR, AR, MR). Vrealmatic. https://vrealmatic.com/publications/immersive-technologies-in-education

Share