How IMMERSE Partners with Companies to Provide Immersive Language Learning
IMMERSE partners with companies to provide immersive language learning experiences that overcome the limitations of Zoom. By immersing learners in a virtual world tailored for language learning, they can more effectively learn and build confidence in their language skills. Here’s how we partnered with one organization, GoStudent, to uplevel their language tutoring services.
IMMERSE and GoStudent
GoStudent is a European EdTech company that provides one-on-one online tutoring for students. The platform aims to connect students of all educational levels with private tutors online. These tutors help students improve their grades and confidence across more than 30 school subjects, one of the most popular ones being language learning.
Prior to partnering with IMMERSE, GoStudent surveyed 12,294 of their customers and found that up to 87% believed that VR could be beneficial for education in that it could make learning more fun and effective. Recognizing that language learning in particular would greatly benefit from VR’s ability to provide a more contextualized learning experience, GoStudent partnered with Immerse to transition their online language tutoring from Zoom to VR. Their confidence in this transition was bolstered by the copious research showing IMMERSE to be remarkably effective at enhancing language learning.
For this partnership, IMMERSE first worked with GoStudent to understand their learners’ language levels and needs and then to provide them with lesson plans and content that were most suitable. Since then, GoStudent has been using IMMERSE to teach languages to their students, with IMMERSE providing a dedicated customer support manager to help with technical and strategic guidance along the way.
Findings
GoStudent recently conducted a study evaluating the efficacy of each of their programs (e.g., foreign languages, math, science, etc.) which gives us insight into how this partnership has helped their language learners.
They collected data from 2,616 customers on how their grades had changed since receiving tutoring in their respective subjects. 658 (26.13%) of them were learning foreign languages. Here are some of the key findings on how learning in the IMMERSE platform helped students improve their grades:
- 74% of students improved their language grades by up to 3 levels across all ages.
- 79% of university-level learners reported grade improvement.
- 90% of those students who increased their grades also increased their confidence.
- Students who took lessons for 6 months instead of 3 were 37% more likely to improve, indicating that longer is better.
How VR Revolutionizes Online Language Learning
The COVID-19 pandemic truly transformed the way we deliver education and nowadays online learning opportunities are everywhere.
Online learning has many advantages. Students can join classes remotely from the comfort of their home and benefit from learning experiences that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to. They can connect with teachers from all over the world and learn from diverse perspectives. For many, online learning is more flexible and cost effective.
But there are also downsides. Disengagement and lack of motivation can run high in online courses. The physical separation between students and instructors can lead to feelings of isolation, and without the structure of a traditional classroom, some students struggle to stay on track. Additionally, not all subjects lend themselves well to the online format.
This is particularly true for language learning. The dynamic nature of language acquisition requires rich environments where students can engage in spontaneous conversations, pick up on cultural nuances, and practice language in real-life contexts. These elements are challenging to replicate in a typical online setting. While platforms like Zoom facilitate communication, they often fall short in creating the immersive, interactive experiences necessary for effective language acquisition. The lack of contextualized learning and real-time practice can hinder students' ability to fully grasp the nuances of a new language.
Enter virtual reality (VR). Unlike traditional online learning tools, VR has the potential to transform language education by immersing students in a fully interactive, three-dimensional environment. In IMMERSE, learners can explore over 40 virtual environments that replicate real-life locations, such as a fast food restaurant or a park. They can interact with objects and other users, engaging in realistic scenarios that closely mirror real-life experiences. This level of immersion helps bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, making the learning process more engaging and effective.
Interested in Providing Immersive Language Learning to your Learners?
Thanks to IMMERSE’s partnership program, educational institutions can offer their students language training through IMMERSE at a bulk discount.
Once enrolled, learners will have access to everything IMMERSE has to offer:
- Live, synchronous small-group classes taught by real educators
- Live, synchronous conversation events also taught by real educators
- 24/7 AI-powered avatar practices
- 24/7 language games
- Learning Journey tracker
You can learn more about the program and fill out an interest form here.
