Virtually Together: on creating learning spaces for VR production using free and open-source software tools and open standards platforms

This paper reflects on the development and delivery of a visual art elective called Mixed Reality Production that introduced students to the theory and design of virtual and augmented reality projects for application in creative and industry contexts, including the visual arts, digital storytelling, documentary, and journalism. This studio-based unit was taught for the first time in 2022 with both face-to-face and remote classes. While running a remote class was a pragmatic response to the COVID pandemic, it also validated the prior decision to structure the unit around the use of web-based technologies for the authoring and distribution of content as well as the use of free and open-source software tools and open standards platforms. This paper draws on the author’s first-hand experience of designing and teaching this elective, and from software studies and platform studies in order to consider some of the pedagogical, technological and cultural implications of this decision. The paper considers how the use of networked virtual technologies and accessible tools can create diverse experiential learning spaces and communities.