Assessing Awareness and Use of Immersive Technologies in Higher Education: A Focus on Animation Design Practices

Abstract

Immersive technologies, containing virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), collectively known as Extended Reality (XR), are transforming educational and creative practices across disciplines. While these technologies offer unparalleled opportunities for engagement, experiential learning, and innovation, their awareness and adoption vary significantly across academic and professional domains. This paper investigates the level of awareness and the diverse applications of immersive technologies in academic discourse and animation design practices. In academia, immersive technologies are increasingly integrated into teaching methodologies, enhancing learning outcomes through interactive and experiential approaches. However, the extent of their adoption and the barriers hindering widespread use remain critical issues. Similarly, in animation design, immersive technologies enable new paradigms of storytelling, character design, and real-time rendering, yet challenges such as accessibility, cost, and skill gaps continue to limit their potential.  However, these opportunities remain limited by issues such as accessibility, cost, as well as lack of expertise. This study combines literature review and surveys in this research to determine the potential barriers for awareness and adoption, as well as their relevance, and explain the link between academic research and industry practice. Survey of 351 participants from various academic domains & professionals shows Virtual reality to be most popular technology and Chi-square test conducted shows a significant relation between academic domain and awareness of these technologies.