- In August 2023, Immerse introduced a partnership program that allows universities and language schools to purchase Immerse memberships in bulk for their students
- This program, Bridge the Conversation Gap, focuses on helping students build their speaking and conversational fluency
- UCF Global, part of the University of Central Florida, has taken advantage of this opportunity and now offers their English Language Learners unlimited access to Immerse
While study abroad experiences are invaluable for developing spoken communication skills, such opportunities are not accessible to all learners. Many language programs struggle to provide their students with sufficient opportunities for authentic conversation practice.
UCF Global at the University of Central Florida is taking a creative approach to solving this problem. They have purchased Immerse memberships for their English language learners, giving their students unlimited access to live classes, social events, AI-powered conversation partners, and learning games. Their learners can now engage in authentic and contextualized communication practice with real people and AI avatars merely by logging into a desktop computer or putting on a Quest VR headset.
Getting the conversation program started was simple
UCF Global started by purchasing 30 student memberships through Immerse’s new university partnership program. They then hosted an informational meeting for students who were interested in improving their English speaking abilities and conversation skills.
At the meeting, they introduced students to Immerse and gave an overview of its various features for learning and practicing spoken communication skills. Since they had Meta Quest 2 headsets available for student use, they also held a second meeting that focused on training students to use the headsets to navigate Immerse.
Students were then invited to use Immerse as much as they wished. Their student memberships give them unlimited access to Immerse’s core offerings:
- Live, small-group lessons focused on developing discrete communicative tasks, such as offering an opinion, describing symptoms to a doctor, or giving instructions
- Conversation events facilitated by an Immerse teacher, where they can engage in fun role-play scenarios
- AI-powered speaking partners that have been programmed to provide realistic conversation practice while also providing support with vocabulary learning
- Social learning games for solo or multi-person play, including vocabulary archery, pictionary, and more, to harness the language-learning power of fun and movement
- A Learning Journey tracker that helps students chart their learning path towards well-rounded communicative competence
Language activities in VR have been shown to reduce speaking anxiety and improve learning outcomes, so learners are expected to reap these benefits as well.
So far, 30 UCF Global students have been using Immerse and the feedback has been positive! UCF Global will continue gathering feedback from students on their experiences and hopes to expand the program long-term to support even more of their international students.
How does this new partnership program work?
Thanks to Immerse’s new Bridge the Conversation Gap partnership program, universities and language schools can purchase Immersememberships for their students at a bulk discount.
Schools can fund these memberships themselves or cover the cost with a required or optional supplemental tech fee, depending on whether they plan to incorporate Immerse as a required or optional component of their language program.
Schools only need to send an email list of the participating students. Immerse then takes care of creating accounts and sending out temporary passwords. Immerse can also provide online support in navigating Immerse and using all its features.
Once they have an account, students 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
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