Reimagining Sociology through Immersive Technology: A Proposal for a VR/AR-enabled Computer Lab

Dear colleagues,
As sociologists, we strive to help students engage critically with complex social realities – across cultures, institutions, and identities. Today, I invite you to imagine a learning environment where students don’t just read about migration, inequality, or urbanization – they experience these concepts firsthand.
I propose the creation of a Virtual and Augmented Reality Computer Lab within our Department of Sociology. This lab will merge cutting-edge immersive technologies with our core mission: to cultivate global citizens who are equipped to understand and change the world.

Through VR, students could:

• Walk through refugee camps, experiencing displacement from a first-person perspective.
• Participate in historical protests to analyze civil rights movements.
• Step inside a simulated urban neighborhood to explore the dynamics of segregation and gentrification.

AR would enable us to overlay data and stories onto real-world spaces, turning campuses, local communities, or classrooms into interactive sociological case studies.

Pedagogical Benefits

• Increase empathy and engagement through embodied learning.
• Improved retention and conceptual understanding of abstract sociological theories
• Enhanced opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration (e.g., with anthropology, history, or public health).

Research Opportunities: The lab would also support faculty research – allowing us to design virtual ethnographies, test simulations, or study learning outcomes in immersive environments.

With relatively modest investment in VR headsets, AR-compatible devices, and curriculum design, we can create a lab that not only supports the next generation of sociologists but also redefines how sociology is taught and learned.

Let’s position our department at the frontier of innovation – where technology meets human understanding.

Thank you for your consideration