Immersive 360° Learning Environments

The challenge
For many learners, seeing inside a mosque, a cathedral or a temple means a school trip, and not every school can make one happen. Distance, cost, additional learning needs and growing parental hesitancy all play a part. The result is a curriculum experienced unequally, shaped by geography and circumstance rather than by what pupils need. Humanism, which the Curriculum for Wales requires to be treated equally, has no building to visit at all.

What we built
Commissioned by Adnodd and published on Hwb, the resource is a set of linked 360° environments covering five worldviews: a Hindu temple, an Islamic centre, a cathedral, a synagogue, and a series of spaces exploring Humanism.

Pupils choose where to look, what to investigate and how long to stay. Every site follows the same structure, so they can compare worship, beliefs and festivals across traditions side by side, something a single visit could never offer. Hotspots bring in text, video and audio narration from members of faith communities, and each site includes an escape room that turns exploration into investigation.

It isn’t a replacement for a visit. It prepares pupils beforehand, gives them something to return to afterwards, and offers the same access when a visit isn’t possible. Teachers use it too, to build their own knowledge while planning.

Designed for everyone

• Bilingual from the start, with Welsh and English available at the touch of a toggle, and captions on every video in both languages
• Immersive Reader built in, to support pupils with reading
• Designed for ages 8 to 14, and used successfully with younger pupils
• Runs in a web browser, with no specialist hardware
• Content reviewed by faith community leaders for accuracy

Impact and evidence

• Free to every school in Wales since April 2026, with over 6,000 views
• Teachers highlighted how easy it was to use, how independently pupils could work, and how engaging the escape rooms were.

 A Year 6 pupil said  "I like the escape rooms, not just because they are fun but you can actually learn a lot from them."

Recognition
On the 20th October 2026, the project won the ALT Award for Case Studies in Ethical EdTech at the Association for Learning Technology’s Annual Conference. ALT’s citation recognised “a strong commitment to ethical practice, inclusion and accessibility, alongside a well-evidenced approach to evaluating and extending its impact.”

Project team
Commissioned by Adnodd. Created by Immersive Discoveries with teachers Emma Richards, Lauren Riella and Sara Jones. Faith community leaders and members reviewed the content and contributed video and audio. Built on ThingLink. 

Find out more -

• Read the story behind the project on the ALTC blog
• See the ALT Awards 2026 winners
• Read the Advancing Education article
• ThingLink’s story of the project