This project develops an interactive, multimedia platform using XR technologies to deliver asynchronous and experiential learning experiences. Real-world environments were developed with informational hotspots to support exploration of key concepts from multiple perspectives. The platform overcomes time, access, and scalability barriers, making it adaptable for a wide range of subjects.

Description & Goals: Context and Project Background

The project was a collaboration between NC State College of Design and DELTA (Digital Education and Learning Technology Applications) . It was a continuation of an previous exploratory grant. With the support of NC State’s DELTA, NLI has successfully implemented award-winning digital projects. One such project received the 2017-2018 Gertrude Cox Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching and Learning with Technology. These previous efforts set the foundation for the current initiative: the creation of immersive, interactive, and scalable virtual learning environments that allow learners to experience, manipulate, and reflect on urban design decisions in a way previously impossible through conventional methods. The Natural Learning Initiative (NLI) was founded in 2000 with the purpose of promoting the importance of the natural environment in the daily experience of all children, through environmental design, action research, education, and dissemination of information. We targeted to teach complex concepts of urban design through an immersive learning experience. 

This project aims to develop a suite of tools leveraging new high-resolution matterport scans and videos, a virtual environment of  a kid together park and creation of a resource hub for diverse audiences. These tools will provide asynchronous, virtual environments for exploring key concepts in Environment and Behavior Outdoor Design, with the flexibility to serve both academic courses and professional development settings.

Session Learning Outcomes

After attending this session the attendees will:

1. Gain a comprehensive understanding of how immersive virtual environments (IVEs) can be utilized to teach applied design principles in public health, landscape architecture, and urban planning.

2. Explore the unique capabilities of tools such as the Matterport to capture spatial narratives and perspectives not easily accessible through traditional media.

3. Evaluate pedagogical models that pair digital immersion with asynchronous learning objectives, including scenario-based decision-making, perspective shifting, and design iteration.

4. Discover how interactive annotations (“hotspots”) embedded within 3D environments can facilitate contextual learning, allowing users to explore the rationale and outcomes of design choices in situ.

5. Reflect on strategies for scaling these digital tools across disciplines and learning environments, particularly those that have historically lacked access to experiential, place-based learning

Instructional Challenges

Teaching environment and behavior concepts traditionally relies on in-person, hands-on fieldwork, where learners experience the impact of design elements within real-world environments. However, this approach presents several persistent challenges:

• Scheduling and Coordination: Organizing synchronous field visits that align with instructor availability and student schedules—especially across departments and disciplines—is often unfeasible.

• Geographic and Economic Barriers: Not all students have access to the locations being studied, and travel-related costs create further barriers for underserved learners.

• Repetition and Documentation: Field instruction is often a one-time, non-recorded experience, requiring instructors to repeat sessions multiple times or rely on static documentation that lacks immersive context.

• Equity and Scalability: Traditional approaches limit participation for students in distance education programs, public health professionals, and others who benefit from flexible, asynchronous learning.

Virtual learning tools offer a viable solution that maintains the core experiential qualities of field-based learning while removing barriers related to time, cost, and location. The key is ensuring that the virtual experiences are authentic, interactive, and pedagogically aligned with real-world applications.

Matterport Scan Creation

We created an interactive Matterport virtual tour of the Kids Together Park, featuring 28 hotspots with embedded information and five video narratives. This scan enables users to explore real-world examples of landscape architecture and urban design concepts through an asynchronous learning experience. These scans will focus on outdoor spaces that embody best practices in child-friendly, accessible, and biophilic urban design. Each scan will be augmented with informational hotspots, interactive markers that provide multimedia content such as narrated explanations, embedded videos, design schematics, and links to research literature.

These enhanced scans will serve as anchor points for asynchronous learning modules. By virtually navigating these spaces, students will learn to analyze and critique real-world design implementations through a lens informed by environment-behavior theory.

Virtual Environment Creation Using Kids Together Park as a Real Example

The project’s signature virtual environment will be a 3D interactive version of Kids Together Playground, an award-winning inclusive park located in Cary, North Carolina. Known for its thoughtful integration of play, nature, and universal design principles, the park offers an ideal case study for exploring how intentional design affects user experience, accessibility, and behavioral affordances. Using Matterport scans, original plans, and site photos, the team built a dynamic learning tool where students can make design decisions and immediately visualize their impact from multiple perspectives.

In the virtual version, learners will be able to:

• Toggle Between Perspectives: Switch between an adult’s point of view and a “child’s eye” perspective to understand how spatial experiences vary by user. In this case the virtual playgroud can be viewed from the toddler perspective to make correct design decisions.

• Manipulate Design Variables: Modify elements such as path layouts, planting density, seating arrangements, or sensory elements, and immediately observe the resulting changes in perceived usability, openness, and inclusion.

• Learn by Presence and Absence: Assess the impact of removing key design features (e.g., shade, play zones, visual cues), revealing how essential elements shape user behavior and environmental quality.

• Understand Systems Thinking: Observe how changes in one component influence the broader environment—demonstrating the interconnectivity of design decisions in a way that static diagrams cannot.

This environment offers experiential learning, it functions as a pedagogical sandbox where learners engage in experimentation, critical thinking, and applied reflection.

Resource Hub

To ensure the sustainability and scalability of the learning experience, we developed a media-rich resource hub, a centralized online platform for storing, organizing, and disseminating learning materials associated with the virtual environments. As a living resource, it will be continuously updated and made available to NC State students, public health professionals, and educators nationally and globally. This hub will include:

• Instructional videos and narrated walkthroughs

• Downloadable readings, design protocols, and infographics

• Case study guides and interactive exercises

• Immersive media and gallery (Virtual environments, Matterport scans etc.)

The hub will serve both academic and professional audiences, supporting courses in landscape architecture, public health, early childhood education, and community planning.

Presentation/Audience Activity and Engagement

The conference session will be designed to model the immersive learning experience that the project promotes. Attendees will:

• Enter a live demonstration of the Kids Together virtual environment.

• Explore embedded hotspots to access contextual information and media.

• Toggle between different user perspectives and simulate a design intervention.

• Join in facilitated discussions about the instructional potential of immersive tools and brainstorm cross-disciplinary applications within their own institutions.

By integrating hands-on exploration with guided reflection, the session will actively engage participants in the project’s pedagogical approach.

References

Moore, R. C., & Cosco, N. G. (2014). The role of nature in children’s everyday lives: Contexts and opportunities.

Jakia Salam

Lead Instructional Designer at North Carolina State University at Raleigh

Bio: Jakia Salam is a Lead Instructional Designer at DELTA where she works as a project lead and instructional designer for DELTA Grant projects. She works closely with the faculty, media team and video production team to design, develop, and evaluate on-line, hybrid and face-to-face courses.
Jakia holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and completed her Master of Science in Computer Science from UNC Greensboro in 2002. She also obtained a Graduate Certificate in e-learning from the College of Education at NC State in 2013.
Prior to joining DELTA, Jakia worked in various roles including as a Senior Instructional Designer at UNC Chapel Hill, an Instructional Technology Consultant at UNC Greensboro, a full-time faculty at Guilford Technical Community College, a Chemical Engineer and Application Developer.

Benjamin Huckaby

Lead Interaction Designer/Developer at North Carolina State University at Raleigh

David Tredwell

Team Lead, Multimedia Development at North Carolina State University at Raleigh