Military Education in Extended Reality

From 2020 to 2023, the Norwegian Defence University College/Command and Staff College (NDUC/CSC) is running a research and development project to develop an educational program in Extended Reality (XR).

The aim is both to improve teaching and learning at the master’s and bachelor’s degrees at the University College and to provide new scientific knowledge about how students learn through immersive digital educational technologies. Through VR-goggles, the tailored XR-program will pull joint military planners and military officers closer to war, letting them experience armed conflict through the eyes and virtual bodies of both civilian victims of war and armed groups responsible for targeting civilian populations.

The aim is to improve our students’ understanding of the utility of force to protect civilians in contemporary armed conflict, a new, important, but poorly understood role for military forces. Along the way, the XR-project will provide new knowledge about the opportunities and limitations of developing educational technology in extended reality in higher military education.

The findings will be of direct relevance for NDUC and the Norwegian Armed Forces. The XR-project is already gaining international attention, and the Norwegian Ministry of Defence recently pledged the project to the UN, as a future national contribution to peace operations.