AI + XR: Are We Finally Ready for Immersive Learning at Scale?

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Kaylee Seely, Head of Immersive at Pearson Labs, Pearson; Elina Ollila, Deputy Center Director and Professor of Practice at Endless Games and Learning Lab at ASU; Nicole Staubli, Head of Education at Meta; and Jim Chilton, Board Director at SNHU Board.Immersive technology had long promised to transform learning, but this session explored how the real shift today is not hype—it is infrastructure. With game engines, spatial computing, and high-fidelity world-building tools now making it possible to construct persistent learning environments, speakers examined how students can increasingly explore, manipulate, and inhabit educational spaces in new ways.This conversation focused on how immersive learning is moving beyond one-off VR experiences into fully realized educational worlds. From digital twins of laboratories and historical sites to interactive simulations that mirror real systems, panelists discussed how the next generation of platforms is building environments where learning happens through participation rather than observation.Speakers also examined what it takes to bring immersive learning into real classrooms, including the technical stack behind these environments, the design principles that make virtual worlds educationally meaningful, and the practical realities of district adoption as immersive tools move from experimentation to infrastructure.By exploring both the promise and implementation challenges of AI + XR, this session highlighted how immersive technologies may finally be positioned to scale as meaningful educational infrastructure in the future of learning.