Towards a Theory of Immersive Fluency

The challenge of working fluently across a combination of literacies is a major hurdle in implementing immersive education. Even when students, particularly digital natives, embrace the complexities of the medium, faculty often struggle to develop the technical skills required to create immersive experiences. The theory and practice of immersion applied in the Master of Arts in Learning and Emerging Technologies (MALET) at SUNY Empire State College provides graduate students with immersion in virtual worlds learning as they acquire fluency across literacies. Learners co-create in collaborative virtual environments as designers of teaching and learning experiences. They participate in peer review in preparation for an open, juried showcase presented in virtual worlds, and design a complete learning environment for the Advanced Design Seminar. The fluency they acquire requires moving beyond literacies as they work in environments which foster a host of experiences leading to visual, digital, media, cultural, and critical fluencies.