Two students using a virtual reality headset

Announcing the Immersive Realities Initiative at Swarthmore

The following post is from our friends at the Swarthmore Libraries

On behalf of the Digital Scholarship team at Swarthmore Libraries we are pleased to announce our Immersive Realities Initiative. In order to give students access to and experience with emerging technologies, specifically Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and 3D modeling, our mission is to:

  1. Integrate Extended Reality (XR) into the curriculum in ethical, accessible, and pedagogical sound ways 
  2. Support the use of XR to enhance academic research and scholarship across the disciplines 
  3. Enhance student engagement in co-curricular events through the use of XR technologies 
  4. Open up critical conversations about the potential benefits and drawbacks of this technology

If you have a course, event, or research project you feel would benefit from hands-on exposure to immersive technologies, the Digital Scholarship team can create a custom demonstration to match your pedagogical or research interests. We intend to support these efforts from brainstorming to assessment, helping you plan, execute, and evaluate the use of these tools in your pedagogy and research. 

What to know more? We have created a simple interest form for you to complete. Completing this form is not a commitment on your part, just a request for more information on how we can create a tailored experience for your specific needs. You can also reach out to alicast1@swarthmore.edu anytime.