IMMER-LIT - Research Project - First IMMER-LIT Seminar

IMMER-LIT Brings Together its Team for its First Seminar

On 11 June 2026, the IMMER-LIT project held its first in-person seminar at ETSEIB (Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria Industrial de Barcelona - Universitat Politècnica de Barcelona), bringing together the team of researchers and educators working on this project. The event combined project coordination activities with hands-on workshops focused on the two key pedagogical approaches at the heart of IMMER-LIT: Virtual Reality (VR) and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).

Members from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Universitat de Lleida, Universitat de Girona, Universitat de Vic, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Universidad de Almería, and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania).

The day opened with a project meeting in which researchers reviewed progress from the first phase of data collection and discussed the upcoming analysis phase. With IMMER-LIT now reaching an important milestone, participants took the opportunity to reflect on preliminary observations, share experiences from their respective institutions, and coordinate the project's next steps.

The second part of the seminar was dedicated to practical training sessions designed to support the implementation of immersive learning activities in higher education. During the VR workshop, participants explored how virtual reality environments can be integrated into English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses to create authentic communication experiences that simulate professional engineering contexts, and the different experiences they can bring into the classroom.

The afternoon focused on COIL, an educational approach that allows students from different countries and institutions to collaborate online on shared academic projects. The workshop walked us through the different stages involved in designing successful COIL experiences, from planning and partner selection to implementation and evaluation. Participants also examined real examples of international collaborations involving interdisciplinary projects, reflecting on both the benefits and challenges of integrating international virtual exchange into university courses. On the benefits side, the group highlighted the development of intercultural awareness, teamwork, communication, and professional skills, as well as the chance to give students an authentic international experience without the need for physical mobility. On the challenges side, participants pointed to practical hurdles such as coordinating across institutions, reconciling different academic calendars, and accommodating varying levels of digital and linguistic proficiency.

IMMER-LIT's next milestone will be a follow-up meeting built around a training session on data analysis. The goal is to standardize the analytical approach across the team, helping researchers as they move into producing project materials.

Project PID2024-156558NB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and FEDER,UE

16/06/2026

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