CREATING WORLD-CLASS LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES AT MERCED COLLEGE
Merced College serves California’s Central Valley with a belief that community college students should have access to the same innovative learning opportunities as students anywhere. In August 2024, the college launched Dreamscape Learn inside its Interdisciplinary Academic Center, giving students new ways to engage with challenging STEM coursework while giving faculty tools to create immersive learning across disciplines.
Early results in Human Biology have been significant. Across 2025–26 BIOL-02 sections, students in Dreamscape Learn-integrated courses saw an 3.4-point increase in course completion and a 4.1-point increase in course success rates. Building on those results, Merced is expanding both how and where Dreamscape Learn is used, with faculty developing applications across agriculture, automotive technology, psychology, Spanish, and other disciplines, and the college adding its first Dreamscape Cart.
Merced College serves California’s Central Valley with a belief that community college students should have access to the same innovative learning opportunities as students anywhere. In August 2024, the college launched Dreamscape Learn inside its Interdisciplinary Academic Center, giving students new ways to engage with challenging STEM coursework while giving faculty tools to create immersive learning across disciplines.
Early results in Human Biology have been significant. Across 2025–26 BIOL-02 sections, students in Dreamscape Learn-integrated courses saw an 3.4-point increase in course completion and a 4.1-point increase in course success rates. Building on those results, Merced is expanding both how and where Dreamscape Learn is used, with faculty developing applications across agriculture, automotive technology, psychology, Spanish, and other disciplines, and the college adding its first Dreamscape Cart.
Merced College serves California’s Central Valley with a belief that community college students should have access to the same innovative learning opportunities as students anywhere. In August 2024, the college launched Dreamscape Learn inside its Interdisciplinary Academic Center, giving students new ways to engage with challenging STEM coursework while giving faculty tools to create immersive learning across disciplines.
Early results in Human Biology have been significant. Across 2025–26 BIOL-02 sections, students in Dreamscape Learn-integrated courses saw an 3.4-point increase in course completion and a 4.1-point increase in course success rates. Building on those results, Merced is expanding both how and where Dreamscape Learn is used, with faculty developing applications across agriculture, automotive technology, psychology, Spanish, and other disciplines, and the college adding its first Dreamscape Cart.
Innovation only matters if it improves the student experience and outcomes. Dreamscape Learn allows our students to move beyond simply learning about complex concepts to actually experiencing them in immersive, engaging ways that can deepen understanding and support success.
Chris Vitelli, President, Merced College
Chris Vitelli, President, Merced College
Like many school leaders, Dr. Jennifer Cruz was seeing students become less engaged with school, particularly in middle school. The signs were clear: attendance, classroom behavior, assignment completion and the quality of student work all reflected whether students saw purpose in what they were being asked to do.
“We were seeing a drop-off in motivation,” said Dr. Jennifer Cruz, superintendent of Pendergast Elementary School District. “Students just weren’t seeing the why behind the work.”
For Dr. Cruz and her team, the issue was not student ability. It was a mismatch between students’ lives outside school and the way they were often asked to learn inside school.
Pendergast serves a diverse student population in west Phoenix, and district leaders worried that too many students were being left behind by a system that no longer matched how young people learn, connect and pay attention. Students were growing
up in a world shaped by immersive media, gaming and digital storytelling. School needed to give them learning experiences that felt more active, relevant and worth their effort.
“We have a significant engagement challenge because of the structural problem that we face,” Dr. Cruz said. “Students live with technology. They form relationships through
THE CHALLENGE: GIVING STUDENTS THE BEST POSSIBLE CHANCE TO SUCCEED
Merced College serves one of California’s most diverse and underserved regions. More than 70% of students receive financial aid, and nearly half are first-generation college students. For President Chris Vitelli, that creates a responsibility to ensure students have access to the same innovative learning experiences available at leading universities.
Dreamscape Learn gave Merced a way to invest in the kind of world-class learning experiences its students deserve while creating experiences they couldn’t access anywhere else. In a time when learning can happen almost anywhere, those experiences give students meaningful reasons to come to campus.
When students are genuinely engaged in their learning, they show up differently. They become more invested, put greater effort into their work, and begin to see a clearer connection between what they are learning today and the opportunities ahead of them.
Chris Vitelli, President, Merced College
Chris Vitelli, President, Merced College
Like many school leaders, Dr. Jennifer Cruz was seeing students become less engaged with school, particularly in middle school. The signs were clear: attendance, classroom behavior, assignment completion and the quality of student work all reflected whether students saw purpose in what they were being asked to do.
“We were seeing a drop-off in motivation,” said Dr. Jennifer Cruz, superintendent of Pendergast Elementary School District. “Students just weren’t seeing the why behind the work.”
For Dr. Cruz and her team, the issue was not student ability. It was a mismatch between students’ lives outside school and the way they were often asked to learn inside school.
Pendergast serves a diverse student population in west Phoenix, and district leaders worried that too many students were being left behind by a system that no longer matched how young people learn, connect and pay attention. Students were growing up in a world shaped by immersive media, gaming and digital storytelling. School needed to give them learning experiences that felt more active, relevant and worth their effort.
“We have a significant engagement challenge because of the structural problem that we face," Dr. Cruz said.
THE SOLUTION: ENGAGING STUDENTS TODAY WHILE BUILDING FOR TOMORROW
Merced introduced Dreamscape Learn’s immersive biology experiences inside the college’s Interdisciplinary Academic Center, where students step into cinematic worlds to investigate ecosystems, solve scientific problems and collaborate through story-driven learning.
Early results have been encouraging. Across biology sections from Fall 2024 through Spring 2026, students in Dreamscape Learn-enhanced courses had a 92.6% course completion rate, compared with 89.2% in non-Dreamscape sections, a 3.4-percentage-point difference. Course success rates were 80.7% in Dreamscape-enhanced sections compared with 76.6% in non-Dreamscape sections, a 4.1-point difference.
Students also responded positively to the immersive approach. In a post-course survey, one student said, “It was great! I felt excited to come to class to see what we would learn. I think it helps with visual learning, which I prefer.” Another student wrote, “It is interesting to learn this way rather than just seeing the images and videos.”
At the same time, Dreamscape Learn is helping faculty imagine what’s possible beyond biology.
Across agriculture, psychology, automotive technology, Spanish, and other programs, instructors are already identifying immersive experiences they want to create with the Dreamscape Developer Kit, expanding immersive learning into disciplines across the college.
OUTCOME: BUILDING THE FUTURE OF IMMERSIVE LEARNING
For Cody Jacobsen, Dean of Instruction for Agriculture & Industrial Technology, the opportunity extends far beyond today’s curriculum.
Faculty are planning immersive experiences that allow students to explore robotic dairy parlors, food processing facilities, crop production across the country and other real-world work environments that help prepare them for careers throughout California’s Central Valley.
For Cody Jacobsen, Dean of Instruction for Agriculture & Industrial Technology, the opportunity extends far beyond today’s curriculum.
The opportunities are remarkable. We can provide more and more opportunities for our students while preparing them for careers and making them more employable.
Cody Jacobsen, Dean of Instruction for Agriculture & Industrial Technology, Merced College
Cody Jacobsen, Dean of Instruction for Agriculture & Industrial Technology, Merced College
For Vitelli, continuing to invest in immersive learning is an easy decision.
“The challenge I hear from other leaders is, ‘How do you find the funding to do this?’ My response is, ‘What value do you put on student success? How do you not find the money to do this?’ If we really want to move the needle on success rates, retention and persistence, we have to embrace new and bold initiatives to make it happen.”
For Merced College, Dreamscape Learn reflects a belief that students deserve the best learning experiences we can give them. By investing in immersive learning today, the college is expanding what’s possible for its students, faculty and the future workforce of California’s Central Valley.
Faculty are planning immersive experiences that allow students to explore robotic dairy parlors, food processing facilities, crop production across the country and other real-world work environments that help prepare them for careers throughout California’s Central Valley.
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LEADERSHIP TEAM
Josh Reibel
CEO
Lisa Flesher is the Chief of Realm 4, Project Acceleration at Arizona State University where she helps guide unique, technology-enhanced projects to advance initiatives in Realm 4 - Education Through Exploration. An example of this work includes Dreamscape Learn which empowers learners through fully immersive and interactive VR learning experiences. Her background includes developing technical tools and solutions focused on student support and success, including Starbucks, Global Freshman Academy, me3, and our partnership with the...
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Aaron Grosky
President and COO
Lisa Flesher is the Chief of Realm 4, Project Acceleration at Arizona State University where she helps guide unique, technology-enhanced projects to advance initiatives in Realm 4 - Education Through Exploration. An example of this work includes Dreamscape Learn which empowers learners through fully immersive and interactive VR learning experiences. Her background includes developing technical tools and solutions focused on student support and success, including Starbucks, Global Freshman Academy, me3, and our partnership with the...
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Agatha Ladd
Chief Financial Officer
Lisa Flesher is the Chief of Realm 4, Project Acceleration at Arizona State University where she helps guide unique, technology-enhanced projects to advance initiatives in Realm 4 - Education Through Exploration. An example of this work includes Dreamscape Learn which empowers learners through fully immersive and interactive VR learning experiences. Her background includes developing technical tools and solutions focused on student support and success, including Starbucks, Global Freshman Academy, me3, and our partnership with the...
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Amit Kumar
General Counsel
Lisa Flesher is the Chief of Realm 4, Project Acceleration at Arizona State University where she helps guide unique, technology-enhanced projects to advance initiatives in Realm 4 - Education Through Exploration. An example of this work includes Dreamscape Learn which empowers learners through fully immersive and interactive VR learning experiences. Her background includes developing technical tools and solutions focused on student support and success, including Starbucks, Global Freshman Academy, me3, and our partnership with the...
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Fiona Quinn
Chief People Officer
Lisa Flesher is the Chief of Realm 4, Project Acceleration at Arizona State University where she helps guide unique, technology-enhanced projects to advance initiatives in Realm 4 - Education Through Exploration. An example of this work includes Dreamscape Learn which empowers learners through fully immersive and interactive VR learning experiences. Her background includes developing technical tools and solutions focused on student support and success, including Starbucks, Global Freshman Academy, me3, and our partnership with the...
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Chris Huff
SVP, Academic Partnerships, Dreamscape Learn
Lisa Flesher is the Chief of Realm 4, Project Acceleration at Arizona State University where she helps guide unique, technology-enhanced projects to advance initiatives in Realm 4 - Education Through Exploration. An example of this work includes Dreamscape Learn which empowers learners through fully immersive and interactive VR learning experiences. Her background includes developing technical tools and solutions focused on student support and success, including Starbucks, Global Freshman Academy, me3, and our partnership with the...
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Michael Crow
President, Arizona State University
Lisa Flesher is the Chief of Realm 4, Project Acceleration at Arizona State University where she helps guide unique, technology-enhanced projects to advance initiatives in Realm 4 - Education Through Exploration. An example of this work includes Dreamscape Learn which empowers learners through fully immersive and interactive VR learning experiences. Her background includes developing technical tools and solutions focused on student support and success, including Starbucks, Global Freshman Academy, me3, and our partnership with the...
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Walter Parkes
CEO & Co-Founder, Dreamscape Immersive
Lisa Flesher is the Chief of Realm 4, Project Acceleration at Arizona State University where she helps guide unique, technology-enhanced projects to advance initiatives in Realm 4 - Education Through Exploration. An example of this work includes Dreamscape Learn which empowers learners through fully immersive and interactive VR learning experiences. Her background includes developing technical tools and solutions focused on student support and success, including Starbucks, Global Freshman Academy, me3, and our partnership with the...