Bringing the Boardroom to the Classroom with Virtual Reality

In April 2024, the University of Liverpool Management School successfully piloted an immersive learning programme with students, integrating Virtual Reality (VR) simulations directly into the classroom. This initiative provided a rich, interactive learning experience designed to foster active participation and problem-solving in a real-world context.

Our primary reason for adopting VR was purely for pedagogical progress and effectiveness. Teaching corporate governance, sustainability, and leadership demands attention to boards of directors, but what actually happens in and around boardrooms is often invisible to all except those who are actually involved. This invisibility is a huge barrier to management learning for our students who aspire to be tomorrow's leaders.

To overcome this, we introduced an immersive learning programme using VR headsets for students on the Liverpool MBA (Governance and Sustainability module). This initiative, developed from a relationship with colleagues at INSEAD, leverages the INSEAD XR platform to provide a rich, interactive, first-person perspective on complex, real-world business scenarios.

The fundamental appeal and joy of VR rests in the ability to take students into boardroom settings—in our case, using the "Merging Realities" simulation. Our MBA students were immersed in the experience of boardroom decision-making during a process of acquisition and merger, where they could interview board members and express their own choices of action.

(Note: Other lecturers at the Management School have also been trialling INSEAD XR, including Dr. David Cockayne who ran a parallel pilot with MSc Digital Marketing students, where students utilise design thinking within the Shea Supply Chain to identify problems and propose solutions aimed at improving the value output and local people's lives.)

The implementation required significant preparation, which is considerable and vital, ensuring the technology seamlessly supported our learning objectives:

Technological Implementation (The Logistics):

• Headset and Control Simplicity: Recognising that use of VR headsets in any setting may be unfamiliar to students, we deliberately chose headsets (PICO) designed for ease of use by the "casual user." The hardware features, including a comfortable face pad and a large, tactile, one-button control, ensure immediate usability, supplemented with a short induction at the beginning of the session. This aided inclusivity and ensured that accessing the learning was not part of the challenge.
• Instructor Control & Real-Time Data: A web-based management interface allowed us to remotely control the experience as the lesson progresses, taking students into the ‘chapters’ of the boardroom story, and crucially, provided real-time interaction data— which we as tutors can use to support teaching and generate discussion. We can explore data such as who within the scenario students chose to interact with, and decisions made as an outcome.
• Off-Grid Content Delivery: The immersive content can be substantial in file size (up to 10GB). To mitigate Wi-Fi problems on-the-day, the INSEAD XR platform allows all media content to be transferred in bulk to the headsets the night before. This meant that during the session, there was only low-bandwidth network traffic with headsets for sending control signals and receiving interaction data.

Pedagogical Implementation:

• Deep Immersion & Scaffolding: As academics, this required a deep immersion in the case experience, selection of segments, and scripting lines of discussion and analysis to serve as a structure and scaffolded approach to teaching.
• Active Learning Focus: We delivered a dedicated "Headset Controls" segment at the start, moving quickly into engaging, hands-on activity. Once in session, we used the live interaction data to drive high-quality constructive peer-to-peer challenge and debate, thereby maximising student engagement.

It is not an exaggeration to suggest that VR affords us an opportunity to teach our students in ways previously not possible, and that are more effective.

1. Enabling Active Learning and Self-Efficacy: The immersive, participative decision-making experience moves us from being passive receptors of knowledge to active learners. The conceptual frameworks used to teach corporate governance come to life as students experience the roles and responsibilities first-hand. As one MBA student put it, "It was very practical, a very good example of how in reality, the board director can make mistakes."
2. Authentic Application of Knowledge: The task is authentic, mirroring those of a graduate-level professional. Students felt they were "right there, with the CEO's being part of the integral decision making," giving them a different experience in learning "fundamental practical concepts."
3. Insightful Formative Feedback: The real-time data generation capability offers an opportunity for instant, insightful, formative feedback far beyond possibilities afforded by traditional case and text-based materials. This directly supports the need for formative assessment and feedback/feedforward to develop students’ self-efficacy and skills.
4. Digital Fluency and Focus: The environment naturally eliminates outside distractions, ensuring deeper engagement. Students reported that the session was "distraction-free for us... while we are using VR we are very engaged within the study and you think you are a part of the board."
5. Fostering Professional Innovation: From a tutor's perspective, adopting VR was stimulating. We believe it is important in our professional practice to continually evolve not only what we teach but how we teach. We are now fully invested in VR as a core capability that enables our teaching to make a difference to learners who will be the leaders of tomorrow.

High-Bandwidth Wi-Fi Dependency – a common issue for media rich VR content: we prioritised offline content storage by utilising INSEAD XR’s capability to upload large content files in bulk to the headsets the night before. Network access was only required for low-bandwidth control signals.

User Familiarity and Comfort – mitigated through simple controls and dedicated Support. Technical staff performed thorough pre-checks. This was reinforced by a dedicated hands-on "Headset Controls" segment for students, relying on the hardware's easy one-button control.

Tutor Preparation Time - the academic team had to commit a significant personal investment of time to deep immersion in the case study and meticulous scripting, essential for the contingent teaching and data-informed discussion that elevates the session. This upfront investment is unavoidable, as learning to teach effectively in any new medium requires deep preparation.

This project showcases a deliberate evolution of teaching practice perfectly aligned with the LLF:

• Authenticity: We addressed a critical problem for management learners: the invisibility of high-level decision-making. By placing MBA students into the hyper-realistic, high-stakes environment of a corporate boardroom via the "Merging Realities" simulation, we are fulfilling the demand for real-world context and meaningful and integrated application of knowledge.
• Digital Fluency: The project showcases digital fluency on multiple levels: the strategic use of simple VR hardware, leveraging a sophisticated web-based dashboard for real-time pedagogical data analysis, and integrating Generative AI for rapid prototyping. This demonstrates using Digital and AI technologies as an enabler of learning and teaching (Design Principle 6).

The underlying principle of using VR for Access, Immersion, and Data-Informed Formative Feedback is highly transferable across the university, directly supporting Inclusivity and Global Citizenship hallmarks:

• Equity and Access: The portable, standalone nature of the headsets makes them an equitable method of access for all learners, bringing world-class or inaccessible scenarios (like a boardroom or an overseas supply chain) onto campus, regardless of student background. The simple hardware addresses accessibility guidelines by removing complex interaction requirements.
• Embedded Sustainability and Global Context: Using case studies like the Shea Supply Chain ensures the curriculum addresses global challenges and embedded sustainability.
• Discipline Transfer Examples:
  • Health Sciences: Simulating high-pressure, inaccessible, or complex clinical scenarios (e.g., triage, surgical observation) to build critical decision-making skills.
  • Engineering and Architecture: Conducting virtual "site visits" to industrial plants or large-scale infrastructure projects, allowing students to observe and collect data in physically dangerous or distant environments.

Based on our experience, we have three key takeaways for integrating this approach:

1. Maximise Formative Feedback: The immediate data generated by the system is your most powerful tool. Plan your class around using this data for contingent teaching, ensuring students have enough time to talk through in groups and as a class the experiences they have witnessed, with feedback from the tutor to give the biggest return on investment.
2. Focus on the Pedagogical Value, Not the Novelty: The goal is not the VR itself, but the creation of an environment where students move from being passive learners to active, engaged, curious, creative, proactive and resilient learners—the attributes of a Confident Graduate.
3. Always Provide Inclusive Alternatives: A challenge we continue to work towards but honour is the core value of Inclusivity. Plan for backup options and alternatives for students who cannot or choose not to use the headset, ensuring they can still engage with the same high-quality learning objectives. Furthermore, remain open to suggestions for improvements from students, and actively seek their feedback to make the experience more useful and accessible for future cohorts. Ultimately VR will be a barrier for some students, in the same way as it opens a door for others, so we are keen to collaborate with suppliers and other practitioners on techniques and approaches to allow all students to benefit.