Celebrating 5 years of Collaborative Immersive Learning

USP College was formed in 2017 following the merger of Seevic College in Benfleet and Palmer’s College in Gray's, Essex. The College serves 4,500 students and aims to provide career-focused learning, allowing students to gain professional qualifications and develop the skills desired by businesses.

USP College recognised they, like many other FE institutions, were experiencing testing times, subjects with low student numbers and challenges recruiting high-quality teaching staff. Coupled with variations in teaching and outcomes between the campuses and across subjects, the newly merged college saw an opportunity to change their teaching delivery method.

The Ground-breaking Idea of the 'Immersive Classroom'

Since the implementation in 2019 the College has further enhanced the immersive infrastructure by installing twenty-five smaller Immersive Classrooms to support live-streaming rooms across their campuses, that provided a solid support during Covid and enabled to college to continue delivering education throughout.

Dan Pearson USP College CEO said:

"The immersive rooms gave us an advantage when the pandemic hit and helped connect students and teachers, regardless of their location. They have also provided a great return on investment: in the first year we saved more than £100,000."

Dan Pearson CEO said:

“I have created a strategy focussing on experimentation and the adoption of improved approaches and practices using digital innovations. 

“Students will and have been benefiting from using the Immersive classrooms, they are able to have wider classroom debates, and learn new employability skills which they wouldn’t usually have the opportunity to practise, including presentation and communication skills and live video conferencing.”  

A look back at the launch of the 'industry first' XTEND Digital Campus

Further to the success of the connected immersive classroom concept at USP College, the XTEND Digital Campus opened in 2021 and is a specialist digital campus focusing on augmented reality, virtual reality, extended reality, and immersive education. Home to a state-of-the-art motion capture studio, recording suite, infinity cove, editing suite, discovery lab and an emerging technology studio. The XTEND Digital Campus at USP College, is paving the way for the UK’s next generation of immersive content.

As the first academic institution in the UK to have this innovative technology, they offer a unique and invaluable opportunity to learn the theory of extended reality development and put the latest developments in the field into practice. Working with leading industry experts in virtual reality content creation, and other leading employers to plan and deliver curriculum to help learn the skills required to succeed in the industry. 

Introducing the latest addition to XTEND: the cutting-edge Immersive Space Ultra.

The ULTRA immersive Classroom, was proudly launched in September 2023 and was part of an expansion of seven networks of Immersive classrooms installed at the XTEND Digital Campus.

The Immersive Ultra space is a state-of-the-art super connected, immersive space that provides the ability to deploy simulation environments from a wide range of content providers and bring immersive experiences and virtual reality content into your space whilst connecting with another classroom for collaborative learning or shared teaching. With state-of-the-art XR technologies at its disposal, the ULTRA immersive Classroom creates an awe-inspiring and transformative learning experience for students for all.

Forging Connections and Showcasing Digital Expertise 

As USP College continue to be leaders in digital technology within education they have welcomed collaborations of sharing best practices further to introducing new products to the education environment. The Immersive Ultra Classroom has already welcomed hundreds of students and visitors!

The XTEND Digital Campus has welcomed visitors from across the UK, activities have included over 50 Discovery Days where they have showcased their facilities and implementation of technology in education. Some of the organisations they have proudly hosted include FE Associates, Thinking Differently, Thinking Digitally as well as Coventry University and a number of other FE and Education Professionals. Dan Pearson, CEO, has engaged with many FE providers, Universities and businesses on exciting collaborations and product launches. Some of the engagements this year have included Harrow, Richmond & Uxbridge Colleges (HRUC), Coventry University, West Suffolk College, Lower Thames Crossing, Essex County Council, SELEP, FE Sussex and the SCL Education Group.