At CQUniversity, we had already been developing the idea of a physical video pod: a space where an academic can walk in, press a button, and immediately begin recording long-form lectures or short-form learning content using a camera, microphone, and screens without technical friction.
The Virtual Video Pod took this same philosophy and translated it into VR using the Meta Quest Pro.
Instead of stepping into a physical room, academics entered a virtual studio as an avatar. Using eye tracking and facial capture, the avatar conveyed eye contact and mouth movement naturally, while hand tracking allowed the presenter to interact directly with digital objects in the space. This created a sense of presence and agency that traditional green-screen or slide-based recording cannot offer.
The environment was designed to showcase interactive 3D content, drawing on a library of models and Interactive 3D assets I had developed across the different schools at CQU. This demonstrates how spatial media can bridge the gap between traditional video and deeper understanding. Rather than talking about a concept, academics could present inside it, exploring models in real time.
The Unity3D system was intentionally designed to mirror the physical video pod experience. Within the presenter view, dual virtual screens provide live monitoring so presenters can see what their audience sees while maintaining spatial awareness. A PowerPoint slide-style control system allows presenters to switch between 3D assets and supporting content, while a multi-camera setup is activated simply by pointing, removing the need for complex controls. Familiar studio cues such as recording lights and self-monitoring views were deliberately included, bridging the gap between presenting in a physical space and performing inside a digital one.
A virtual webcam acts as the output point, allowing sessions to be recorded or streamed exactly as they would be in a real studio. This meant the experience could be streamed live or recorded and distributed to CQU’s geographically dispersed student cohort across Australia, without requiring learners to own VR hardware themselves.
This project acted as a pilot for future digital classrooms, demonstrating how immersive environments can support teaching, presence, and explanation while remaining compatible with existing learning platforms and workflows. It showed how immersive technology can be used not as novelty, but as a practical extension of current teaching practices, reducing barriers to adoption while expanding what is possible in educational media.