Innovations in Immersive Learning for Teacher Education: International Perspectives

Dara Tafazoli (PhD, University of Cordoba, Spain) is Senior Research Officer at the University of Newcastle. His research and teaching interests include emerging technologies in teacher education, computer-assisted language learning (CALL), and cultural issues in language education. His work is driven by a deep commitment to equity, access, and inclusion, ensuring that technology-enhanced education benefits learners from under-represented and resource-constrained contexts. Dara serves as the Series Editor of Digital Teacher Education Futures . His recent edited volumes are Artificial intelligence in language education (Springer, 2026), Computer-assisted language learning in the Global South (Routledge, 2024, with L. McCallum), and Handbook of CALL teacher education and professional development (Springer, 2023, with M. Picard). He is also the Editor-in-Chief of The Palgrave encyclopedia of computer-assisted language learning . Orcid: 0000-0001-7082-2286.

Erica Southgate (PhD) is Associate Professor of Emerging Technologies for Education at the University of Newcastle. She is a technology ethicist, immersive education expert and maker of literacy computer games. Erica believes that all students, regardless of their background, should have access to the best, ethical technology for learning. Orcid: 0000-0003-1104-8029.

Emma Shaw (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle, where she teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programs. She is particularly interested in the role emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and simulation, play in reshaping, mediating, and at times distorting our engagement with the past. Emma’s work challenges conventional understandings of historical knowledge and raises critical questions about truth, narrative authority, and historical consciousness in the digital age. Orcid: 0000-0001-9702-8963.