How Mediated Immersion Shapes Learning

Summary form only given, as follows. Over the next decade, three complementary interfaces will shape how people learn: (1) the familiar webpages-and-windows "desktop," (2) multi-user virtual environments (including sensory immersion via virtual reality), and (3) augmented realities based on mobile wireless devices and infused in real world settings. The "millennial" learning styles ascribed to the Net Generation stem primarily from the desktop interface; however, the growing use of virtual environments and augmented realities is fostering new forms of mediated learning in users of all ages. The crucial factor leading to this "neomillennial" learning is that the desktop interface is not psychologically immersive, while in contrast virtual environments and augmented realities induce a strong sense of "presence." Psychological immersion enables a powerful pedagogy, situated learning, which is based on authentic contexts, activities, and assessment coupled with guidance from expert mentoring as well as tacit learning through collaborative activities. Through situated learning enabled by psychological presence, virtual environments and augmented realities is shaping participants' learning styles beyond what using sophisticated computers and telecom-munications has fostered thus far, with multiple implications for education and training.