The Gradual Immersion Method (GIM): Pedagogical Transformation into Mixed Reality

Through increased user interaction in mixed reality environments, the concept of user perception and living space evolves, adapts or is reconstructed. What criteria, however, define the contemporary hybrid learner's perception? Should current educational methods be adapted to this transformation, or is it necessary to reinvent them altogether? This study proposes the Gradual Immersion Method (GIM), a transformation-sensitive form of creativity and learning exploration involving a collaborative approach to 3D digital creation. Supported by Augmented Reality (AR) technique, which promotes intuitive learning, the GIM focuses on concepts such as familiarization, reflection, technological appropriation, perception, and creative cognition. The result is a sequence of learning objects, from 2D to 3D, and finally in a mixed reality environment, which reveals the perceptions of hybrid learners during their performance as digital creators; while the overall method characterizes their perceptions in the context of contemporary learning.