The Impact of Extended Reality on Students’ Perceptions in a Policing Course: An Exploratory Study of Experiencing Diverse Points of View

It can be challenging for students to empathize with how someone from a historically marginalized community might feel when the criminal justice system unfairly targets them. To an extent, the lack of such lived experiences can be mitigated through extended reality techniques in criminal justice classrooms (e.g. Smith, 2021). In this study, we utilize the Empathy Lens, a 360-degree, extended reality (XR) video through which students experience the point of view of another individual. The sample includes 35 students from three sections of an undergraduate policing course at a minority-serving public university in a Western state. These students viewed a police-citizen encounter through virtual reality headsets, which allowed them to view the encounter from the perspective of a White, English-speaking police officer and a detained, Spanish-speaking Latina civilian. Student reflections on this experience served as the qualitative data source. Our findings demonstrate the XR technology’s ability to challenge students to consider multiple perspectives and their sense of empathy in high-stress situations. Practical recommendations, limitations, and suggestions for future directions in criminal justice pedagogy are discussed.