ROWAN UNIVERSITY: CREATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF IMMERSIVE LEARNING
Serving more than 25,000 students in Glassboro, New Jersey, Rowan University saw immersive learning as both an immediate teaching opportunity and a way to build the long-term capacity to create immersive experiences of its own. In January 2025, Rowan opened its Dreamscape Learn Center at Campbell Library, giving students access to cinematic, story-driven learning while giving faculty, students, and industry partners the tools to build their own immersive content.
Faculty have already released experiences in business career fair professionalism and disaster management, with more planned in anatomy and physiology, American history, and other disciplines. Using the Dreamscape Developer Kit, Rowan is creating a growing ecosystem for teaching, research, and workforce development across the university.
Serving more than 25,000 students in Glassboro, New Jersey, Rowan University saw immersive learning as both an immediate teaching opportunity and a way to build the long-term capacity to create immersive experiences of its own. In January 2025, Rowan opened its Dreamscape Learn Center at Campbell Library, giving students access to cinematic, story-driven learning while giving faculty, students, and industry partners the tools to build their own immersive content.
Faculty have already released experiences in business career fair professionalism and disaster management, with more planned in anatomy and physiology, American history, and other disciplines. Using the Dreamscape Developer Kit, Rowan is creating a growing ecosystem for teaching, research, and workforce development across the university.
Serving more than 25,000 students in Glassboro, New Jersey, Rowan University saw immersive learning as both an immediate teaching opportunity and a way to build the long-term capacity to create immersive experiences of its own. In January 2025, Rowan opened its Dreamscape Learn Center at Campbell Library, giving students access to cinematic, story-driven learning while giving faculty, students, and industry partners the tools to build their own immersive content.
Faculty have already released experiences in business career fair professionalism and disaster management, with more planned in anatomy and physiology, American history, and other disciplines. Using the Dreamscape Developer Kit, Rowan is creating a growing ecosystem for teaching, research, and workforce development across the university.
The classroom of tomorrow will not look like the classroom of today. By investing in immersive learning now, Rowan is preparing students and faculty for where education is headed.
Tony Lowman, Chancellor, Rowan University
Tony Lowman, Chancellor, Rowan University
THE CHALLENGE: MOVING FROM VR PILOTS TO UNIVERSITY-WIDE SCALE
Long before partnering with Dreamscape Learn, Rowan had established itself as a leader in virtual reality and immersive technology. Faculty were already exploring how immersive environments could support teaching, research and applied learning across disciplines.
The challenge was turning those individual efforts into something that could scale. Rowan wanted to bring immersive learning into classrooms quickly while giving faculty a practical way to create new content without having to build every project from the ground up.
Long before partnering with Dreamscape Learn, Rowan had established itself as a leader in virtual reality and immersive technology. Faculty were already exploring how immersive environments could support teaching, research and applied learning across disciplines.
The challenge was turning those individual efforts into something that could scale. Rowan wanted to bring immersive learning into classrooms quickly while giving faculty a practical way to create new content without having to build every project from the ground up.
Long before partnering with Dreamscape Learn, Rowan had established itself as a leader in virtual reality and immersive technology. Faculty were already exploring how immersive environments could support teaching, research and applied learning across disciplines.
The challenge was turning those individual efforts into something that could scale. Rowan wanted to bring immersive learning into classrooms quickly while giving faculty a practical way to create new content without having to build every project from the ground up.
We already had a very active virtual reality program, but it wasn’t scalable. We were always asking ourselves, ‘How could we do better? How could we really create the classroom of the future?’
Tony Lowman, Chancellor, Rowan University
Tony Lowman, Chancellor, Rowan University
SOLUTION: A FOUNDATION FOR TEACHING TODAY AND CREATING TOMORROW
The Dreamscape Learn Center gave Rowan both.
Students now step into cinematic learning experiences that place them at the center of unfolding stories, helping them engage with complex subjects through active participation.
At the same time, the Dreamscape Developer Kit gives Rowan faculty the tools to design and deploy immersive experiences aligned with their academic programs, research initiatives and industry collaborations.
Working alongside George Lecakes, director of Immersive Technology and Learning, and Rowan’s Immersive Technology team, faculty can move from concept to classroom more quickly while building on a shared platform designed to grow across the university.
The Dreamscape Learn Center gave Rowan both.
Students now step into cinematic learning experiences that place them at the center of unfolding stories, helping them engage with complex subjects through active participation.
At the same time, the Dreamscape Developer Kit gives Rowan faculty the tools to design and deploy immersive experiences aligned with their academic programs, research initiatives and industry collaborations.
Working alongside George Lecakes, director of Immersive Technology and Learning, and Rowan’s Immersive Technology team, faculty can move from concept to classroom more quickly while building on a shared platform designed to grow across the university.
Faculty can see that they can work with our team to build something for their class that doesn’t take years and millions of dollars. It can be ready for students next semester.
Tony Lowman, Chancellor, Rowan University
Tony Lowman, Chancellor, Rowan University
We can’t bring a flood, an earthquake or a train derailment into the classroom. Dreamscape gives students the opportunity to experience a crisis unfolding around them and learn how to respond.
Tony Lowman, Chancellor, Rowan University
DeMond Miller, Professor of Disaster Science and Emergency Management, Rowan University
OUTCOME: FROM ADOPTION TO CREATION
Within months of opening the Dreamscape Learn Center, Rowan faculty had already expanded beyond the initial biology curriculum, using the Dreamscape Developer Kit to create new immersive learning experiences across multiple disciplines.
One of the first faculty-led projects was CASCADE, an immersive emergency response experience that places students inside unfolding crisis scenarios. Students assess changing conditions, coordinate with virtual responders and make decisions under pressure.
What makes CASCADE especially powerful is the debrief that follows. A live dashboard captures student decisions throughout the VR session, giving faculty a clear view of how each student responded as the scenario evolved. Instructors can then use that data to guide discussion, asking students to explain their reasoning in difficult situations where there may be no single correct answer.
Rowan faculty are also applying immersive learning to professional preparation. In business-focused experiences, students can practice the communication, judgment and interpersonal skills they need for career fairs, networking and workplace etiquette. These experiences give students a structured environment to prepare for real-world professional interactions before they happen.
Additional faculty-led work is extending immersive learning into the humanities, including an American history experience set during the Revolutionary War. In that environment, students explore historical events through evidence, geography and perspective, using immersion to better understand context.
Rowan’s immersive technology team is helping faculty turn ideas into classroom-ready learning experiences. In 2026, Lecakes was recognized as one of New Jersey’s INNOVATE100 honorees for advancing immersive education and virtual reality-enabled learning through Rowan’s Dreamscape Learn initiative.
Together, these early projects show how Rowan is using the Dreamscape Developer Kit to create immersive learning across disciplines, from emergency management and business education to healthcare, history and engineering.
For Rowan, immersive learning is no longer limited to a single classroom or course. It is becoming a university-wide capability.
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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...