6. iLRN Illuminators’ Forum — episode #6: Dialogic Immersion, Human–AI Learning Design, and the Expanding Ecology of Immersive Learning; (January 12th, 2026) - with Lisa Dawley
iLRN ILLUMINATORS FORUM
… the weekly scanning report of
iLRN IMMERSIVE FUTURES’ State of XR & Immersive Learning 2026 effort
episode #6: “Dialogic Immersion and Human–AI Learning Design”
Friday, January 12, 2026
12:00pm Pacific | 3:00pm Eastern | 8:00pm UTC
Forum Host: Jonathon Richter
Special Guest: Lisa Dawley
Co-founder (AERA SIG origins of iLRN) · Educational Technology Scholar · Human–AI Learning Design
This session is the sixth episode of our weekly global scanning series for the 2026 iLRN State of XR & Immersive Learning report. Each week, 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: Dialogic & Reflective Immersion · Human–AI Learning Design · Open Science & Scholarly Systems · Immersive Data Visualization · Deliberative Discourse
This Friday, we will contribute to shared sense-making as iLRN continues its transition toward an Open Immersive Society, connecting early immersive learning research with emerging forms of dialogic and reflective immersion. As AI systems become increasingly present in learning contexts, immersion is no longer only understood as spatial presence in mediated environments, but also as sustained engagement in iterative dialogue, sense-making, and identity work over time.
Our guest, Lisa Dawley, is a co-founder of the AERA SIG where iLRN’s earliest work began (circa 2007). Her perspective offers a rare throughline from early work on immersive virtual worlds and situated learning to her current development of a Human–AI Learning Design Framework—a structured approach for understanding how learners engage with AI as dialogic partners in ways that shape reflection, agency, and meaning-making.
In this episode, we will explore:
• From Virtual Worlds to Dialogic Immersion: What Still Holds
We will revisit early definitions of immersive learning rooted in virtual worlds, simulation, and presence, then examine what remains continuous as immersion expands into dialogic and reflective modes.
• Immersion as an Ecology, Not a Category
Rather than treating “immersive” as a bounded label, we will examine immersion as an ecology spanning spatial, social, cognitive, affective, and intrapersonal dimensions—each shaped by design choices and learner agency.
• Human–AI Learning Design: Structure for a New Interaction Paradigm
Lisa will share an open-draft version of her Human–AI Learning Design Framework and invite community input. We will discuss what the framework clarifies about attention, scaffolding, feedback, reflection, and identity in human–AI dialogue.
• Contextual Signals from 2025: Open Science, Scholarly Systems, and Discourse
To situate the discussion, Jonathon will briefly highlight advances observed through the 2025 scan in open science practices, evolving scholarly systems, immersive data visualization, and more deliberative forms of professional discourse—positioning dialogic immersion within a broader body of movement toward 2026 and beyond.
• Design Responsibilities in Reflective and Dialogic Immersion
We will examine practical and ethical implications: how learner agency is protected, how reflective dialogue is shaped, what “good scaffolding” looks like, and where risks emerge (overreach, dependency, mis-calibration, opacity).
Together, these threads reflect a core reality surfaced in the 2025 scan: immersive learning is expanding in form and reach, and the field now needs language and design frameworks that can hold multiple modes of immersion with conceptual precision and practical responsibility.
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:
Dialogic Immersion and Human–AI Learning Design with Special Guest Lisa Dawley (Episode #6 — January 12, 2026)
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