The  Teach-R training environment, which was developed at the University of Potsdam, is a successful example of virtual reality applications in the education sector.

The advantages of such a learning environment are obvious, as Teach-R offers the opportunity to realistically test difficult teaching situations in front of a real school class before the real thing. This is helpful for many student teachers and a great way to prepare prospective teachers for everyday working life.

In addition to concrete teaching situations, Teach-R also offers possible applications for various didactic topics, e.g. from computer science, mathematics and language teaching.

The application thus supports the professional skills development of teachers and helps to mitigate the "practice shock" by providing a safer space to experiment and try things out. Optionally, learning analytics can be used to accompany the reflection of the immersive learning experience with visualizations.

Teach-R im has already been used in teacher training at  RWTH Aachen University for some time. Birte Heinemann was involved in the development and presents the central functions and possible uses of the application in teaching as part of our  Idea Pool series.