Auburn College of Education Physical Therapy director explains on new podcast how experiential reality is transforming human movement, learning and rehabilitation

Technologies once associated with gaming and entertainment are now reshaping how people learn to move, recover from injury and navigate the world. Virtual, augmented and mixed reality — collectively known as eXperiential reality (XR) — are creating safer, more precise and more personalized environments for skill development and rehabilitation. At Auburn University’s College of Education, these tools are becoming integral to understanding and improving human performance.

It’s an area that Harsimran Baweja, founding director of the School of Kinesiology’s Physical Therapy program in Auburn’s College of Education, explores daily. Baweja is an early pioneer of XR and started using it in human performance and biomedical education in 2013. He recently discussed these advances on the College of Education’s new Auburn Ed Talks podcast, hosted by Maddison Jones, an elementary education major and student ambassador for the College of Education. The podcast spotlights the people, ideas and innovations shaping the future of education and is available on major platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and iHeartRadio. 

XR as an Enhancement — Not a Replacement

Baweja explained how XR expands what instructors, clinicians and researchers can accomplish by creating immersive environments tailored to specific learning outcomes or therapeutic goals.

“For virtual reality, you put on a headset, and you're in an alternate reality,” he said. “Augmented reality is where your current present reality is augmented by the instruments that you put on your head.”

These tools enable individuals to practice skills that might be unsafe or difficult to replicate in real-life situations. A pedestrian crossing in Manhattan, for example, can be recreated with precision and be implemented in a controlled laboratory setting.

“As soon as you put on your headset, you are in downtown Manhattan on a pedestrian crossing,” Baweja said. “I can train you how to do that in a safe environment.”

Still, he emphasized that XR complements traditional instruction.

“It’s not a replacement. It’s an enhancement. It’s an add-on tool.”

Immersive Learning at Auburn

In Baweja’s SensoriMotor and Rehabilitation Technology (SMaRT) Neuroscience laboratory, students are exposed to a range of XR technologies and scenarios. Step inside, and you’ll find a collection of virtual and mixed reality headsets that can transport a person from a calm laboratory to the bustle of downtown Manhattan — all in service of helping them learn to walk with confidence again.

In another moment, the same technology can whisk someone into the open sky, allowing researchers to study the body’s physiological reaction to the sudden free-fall after leaving an airplane while the participant sits safely in a chair, heart rate doubling in an instant.

The lab’s immersive setups extend human performance testing far beyond balance and cognition. In a suite next door, augmented reality enhances a full driving simulator used to understand driver actions, habits and situational reactions. Discoveries from these studies are used to develop paradigms to retrain driving, such as for older adults and individuals recovering from neurological injuries who seek to remain independent.

Elite racecar drivers even step into these virtual worlds, rehearsing the twists of their next race, fine-tuning their cornering lines, and practicing how to control their breathing while barreling down a straightaway at simulated speeds of 150 miles per hour.

But perhaps the most transformative sight is found beyond the research labs and in the classrooms.

Since the establishment of the physical therapy program three years ago, the university has built its first human anatomy simulation lab — home to four immersive digital anatomy tables. Each table hosts multiple virtual cadavers with intricate anatomical and physiological models that allow students to “dissect,” explore and understand the human body in remarkable detail. In this quiet, glowing room, physical therapy students in Auburn’s School of Kinesiology learn anatomy, physiology, biomechanics and principles of human movement as though paging through a living, interactive textbook — one that brings learning to life with the tap of a screen.

According to Baweja, all such technology is most effective when paired with strong foundational knowledge.

“What we need to do to train students, to be good consumers of technology, is to work on fundamental/foundational knowledge,” he said, “and then teach them how to be good consumers of the technology.”

A Future Already Taking Shape

When asked where XR technology is headed, Baweja noted that rapid integration is already underway.

“It’s already here,” he said. “In five years, I would hope that it becomes an everyday thing to enhance how we use it to get better outcomes.”

He described XR as a tool that accelerates progress while adapting to individual needs.

“It enhances, accelerates and personalizes learning and has the potential to democratize recovery,” he said.