CampusXR is proud to partner with Roberts Wesleyan University on immersive lessons for its Exploring the Bible course. Students step into 360° scenes of biblical sites, including the City of David, Hazor and Magdala, and learn through readings, video and quizzes placed right where the history happened. Three short demo videos show the experience in action.
Roberts Wesleyan University & CampusXR
Exploring the Bible is a chronological survey of the biblical narrative, from Israel's early history through the life of Jesus and the early church. The course pairs close reading of the text with its historical, literary, archaeological and theological context, with the goal of forming "empowered interpreters of the Bible."
CampusXR's immersive lessons put that goal into practice. A home screen lets students choose a site: the City of David, Hazor, Qasr al Yahud, Qumran, or the Sea of Galilee through video. Inside each scene, students move through a full 360° environment and work through the material at their own pace.
What We Created
The three demos show different ways the same approach can serve a course:
- Exploring the Bible (Course Hub): A course overview and site menu lead into the City of David, where students read about the Former Prophets, watch an introductory video and answer a quiz question on the spot. A "View the Pilgrim's Road" button then takes them down the stepped street pilgrims used to reach the Second Temple, with an article to read and a quiz tied to the New Testament.
- Hazor and the Solomonic Gate: Students walk the site stop by stop, from the Solomonic Gate to the Canaanite Palace. Along the way they watch a short video on the rise and fall of Hazor and read how six-chambered gates served as public spaces where legal disputes were heard, connected to passages such as Ruth 4 and Deuteronomy 21. Each quiz gives immediate feedback.
- Magdala: A presenter appears on screen as a guide through the Magdala synagogue site. Hotspots explain details such as the perimeter benches and the plastered pillars that still show traces of red coloring, and "Next Lesson" buttons move students from one scene to the next.
Across all three, the same building blocks keep the experience consistent: guided movement, information hotspots, short videos, built-in quizzes and Roberts Wesleyan branding throughout.
Why This Matters for Campuses
Online and hybrid programs often struggle to give students a sense of place, and in a course built on ancient sites that gap matters. Immersive lessons bring the setting into the learning itself, so a reading about a city gate or a pilgrim road sits beside the gate or the road it describes. CampusXR explored this approach in Reimagining Online Theological Education With Immersive Learning.
The lessons also keep faculty content at the center. The readings, questions and themes come from the course, and the technology serves them rather than the other way around. That approaches a fit for any discipline where location, artifacts or spaces shape understanding, from archaeology and history to the sciences and the arts.
Three lessons carry over directly. Place the content where the learner is already looking, check understanding in the moment with short quizzes, and let students move at their own pace through a clear path of stops.
See It in Action
Watch the three demo videos to see students walk the Pilgrim's Road, pass through the Solomonic Gate and stand inside the Magdala synagogue. To explore what immersive lessons could look like in your own courses, contact CampusXR today.