Understanding Institutional Conditions for XR Adoption in Higher Education

Abstract

Extended Reality (XR) is increasingly positioned as a transformative modality for higher education teaching, learning, and research. While many institutions have launched XR pilot projects, fewer have developed coordinated strategies to support sustained institutional adoption. This iLEAD paper presents an institutional case study examining the current landscape of XR use, with a focus on faculty adoption, perceived value, and systemic barriers to implementation. Using a mixed-methods design, the study synthesizes data from a campus-wide survey (n = 30) and semi-structured faculty interviews (n = 5) across multiple disciplines, including engineering, computing, design, and architecture. Findings indicate that while faculty express strong optimism about XR’s potential to support experiential learning, spatial reasoning, and interdisciplinary collaboration, adoption remains constrained by uneven access to infrastructure, limited technical and pedagogical support, funding uncertainty, and development and usability challenges. Importantly, the results illustrate how these barriers interact at the institutional level, contributing to fragmented and ad hoc XR initiatives despite strong faculty interest. Drawing on these findings, the paper offers strategic recommendations for strengthening institutional XR ecosystems, including centralized support structures, faculty development pathways, shared resource models, and mechanisms to enhance visibility and collaboration. By foregrounding faculty perspectives and institutional context, this study contributes design- and policy-relevant insights for higher education leaders seeking to move beyond isolated XR pilots toward more coordinated and sustainable immersive learning practices aligned with future workforce and innovation goals.