A new era of immersive learning is dawning, thanks to the Open Educational Extended Reality (OEXR) Library. Last week at the Annual EDUCAUSE Conference in San Antonio, Jeannine Shantz, Director of Research, Evaluation & Assessment, represented Drexel University and the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship, where she presented alongside a working group of academic and industry experts on the Open Educational Extended Reality (OEXR) Library.
Her session, titled “Unveiling the Open Educational Extended Reality Library with Insights from a Global Survey,” highlighted this groundbreaking collaborative project developed with input from representatives of ten universities. The OEXR library aims to bridge a longstanding gap in open educational resources (OER) by creating an accessible repository of extended reality (XR) educational content for higher education. By democratizing XR technology—which encompasses augmented, mixed, and virtual reality—the OEXR library seeks to make immersive learning tools accessible on a global scale, fostering an inclusive approach to innovation in education.
Bringing Extended Reality to Open Educational Resources
The OEXR Library emerged from a cross-institutional collaboration involving leaders from institutions like Drexel University, San Diego State University, Dartmouth, and NC State University. These institutions identified a clear gap in the accessibility of XR resources within the broader OER landscape. The OEXR Library seeks to democratize this transformative technology, making XR accessible to all learners and providing educators with innovative tools to enhance teaching and learning.
Through the EDUCAUSE XR Community Group, Shantz and her colleagues are working to make this shared resource a vital part of the OER ecosystem. As technology advances and hardware costs decrease, XR has become an increasingly viable option for education, yet the lack of accessible, open resources in XR was a major barrier for many institutions. The OEXR Library addresses this by creating a space where educators can find ready-to-use XR materials, from interactive 3D models to immersive virtual environments.
Global Survey Insights: User Needs Shape Functionality
The OEXR Library’s design and functionality are based on insights gathered from a global survey of 94 institutions across six continents. Key survey findings underscored accessibility, discoverability, and quality assurance as top priorities for users. Respondents emphasized the importance of robust tagging and search capabilities, enabling easy discovery of XR content by subject area or media type, and requested detailed guidelines for both content creation and accessibility. These guidelines will ensure that resources are not only high-quality but also meet the diverse needs of educators and students alike.
Through this feedback, Shantz and her colleagues developed a framework emphasizing flexibility and user accessibility. This framework forms the foundation of the OEXR Library, which will allow contributors and consumers to locate and implement XR materials seamlessly in various educational contexts.
Fostering an Inclusive Educational Community
Beyond its role as a resource repository, the OEXR Library represents a community-driven initiative that aligns with the core principles of OER, often referred to as the “5Rs”: reuse, remix, revise, redistribute, and retain. By allowing educators to tailor XR resources to fit their specific learning environments, the library fosters a collaborative ethos and empowers educators to adapt materials for personalized learning experiences.
The EDUCAUSE XR Community Group envisions the OEXR Library as a shared space where educators and technologists can connect, share best practices, and engage in continuous feedback loops. By supporting a collaborative environment, the OEXR Library aims to promote the use and development of XR technologies across higher education, ultimately enhancing the learning experience for students worldwide.
Looking Ahead: Expanding Access to XR in Education
The development of the OEXR Library marks a major step forward in democratizing XR education, and Drexel University is proud to play a key role in this transformative initiative. Moving forward, Shantz and her team will continue refining the library’s framework, with an ongoing focus on accessibility, quality assurance, and inclusive access for a diverse global audience.
By combining insights from global survey data with innovative technological solutions, the OEXR Library is positioned to make XR an integral part of modern education. This open-access initiative provides institutions of all sizes with the resources needed to explore immersive learning, creating new possibilities for teaching and collaboration across geographies and disciplines.
