3. iLRN Illuminators Forum - episode #3: New Immersive Technologies from 2025 and industry + higher education partnerships (December 12th, 2025); with Kat Schrier

iLRN ILLUMINATORS FORUM

                                                                            ... the weekly scanning report of
iLRN IMMERSIVE FUTURES' State of XR & Immersive Learning 2026 effort 

episode #3: "New Immersive Technologies from 2025 and industry + higher education partnerships" 

Forum Host: Jonathon Richter
Special Guest: Dr. Kat Schrier
Professor/Director of Games and Emerging Media, Marist University

This session is the third episode of our weekly global scanning series for the 2026 iLRN State of XR & Immersive Learning report. Each week for the rest of the year and into early 2026, we convene researchers, designers, and practitioners who are actively observing developments across regions, sectors, and technologies. The goal is to build a shared and recent evidence base for taking a Collective Expert Focused Snapshot of how immersive learning is evolving worldwide.

Focus Areas: Ethics in Immersive Learning · New Immersive Technologies (2025) · Data Rights & Consent · Self-Regulated Learning · Inclusive & Accessible Design

This Friday, we continue building the foundation for the 2026 State of XR & Immersive Learning Scan by spotlighting new immersive technologies that emerged in 2025—and the ethical questions that arrive with new affordances: embodiment, agency, emotion-rich simulation, and increasingly data-intensive interaction.

Our guest, Dr. Kat Schrier, Professor and Director of the Games & Emerging Media program at Marist University, brings a distinctive perspective grounded in games for social impact, ethics-centered design, and inclusive communities. Her work spans ethical decision-making in games, the use of AI to extend learning, and practical strategies for reducing bias and harm in online spaces.

In this episode, we explored:

• Ethics as XR Scales from Pilots to Policy
In 2025 we saw immersive learning shift from isolated pilots into institutional infrastructure—across universities, school systems, cultural heritage initiatives, and workforce pathways. As XR operationalizes, ethical choices move from “design considerations” to governance-level decisions: consent, transparency, and accountability at scale.

• Power, Agency, and Data Rights in Immersive Systems
Immersive experiences can capture meaningful behavioral signals—choices, attention, participation patterns, and narrative decisions. We’ll discuss how those data streams create value (and risk), and why consent, ownership, and purpose limitation become central ethical questions.

• Authenticity, Representation, and Whose Voice Shapes the World
As immersive environments become more photoreal and emotionally persuasive, we must ask whose truth is being presented and who gets to author that representation. This includes cultural heritage and Indigenous storytelling transitions from oral tradition to multimodal and immersive forms.

• Self-Regulated Learning and “Learning Beyond the Experience”
A 10-year meta-analysis highlighted the strength of self-regulated learning as a predictor of achievement. Dr. Schrier connects this to practical design, including how reflective scaffolds (including AI-supported dialogue) can extend learning through planning, monitoring, and reflection—rather than relying on novelty or fidelity alone.

• Accessibility as an Ethical Design Constraint
High-fidelity immersive experiences can exclude learners due to bandwidth, device access, ability differences, and varied technology literacies. We’ll discuss why “more immersive” may sometimes mean “more inclusive,” and how designing for the margins often improves experiences for everyone.

Together, these threads reflect a core reality surfaced in the 2025 scan: immersive learning is accelerating in capability and reach—and the ethical frame must evolve just as quickly if we want scaling to remain aligned with human dignity, inclusion, and meaningful learning.

All are welcome to join as we continue mapping the trends, signals, and scholarly conversations that will inform iLRN’s 2026 report and the Athens conference.

Jump to this episode on the iLRN YouTube Channel with the following link:
Ethics in Immersive Learning with Special Guest Dr. Kat Schrier (Episode #3 — December 12, 2025)