VR eLearning Materials for Policing Students - XpertVR 2026

Learn how virtual classrooms helps the policing programs at Conestoga College

Conestoga College, recognized for its innovative approach blending theory, simulation, and hands-on experience, is dedicated to teaching through a person-centred, community-based approach to policing and public safety. To enhance the realism of its learning environments, the college partnered with XpertVR to develop immersive eLearning materials for its policing and justice programs.

The collaboration united XpertVR’s simulation design team and Conestoga’s Virtual and Augmented Reality (VAR) Lab, combining educational psychology with immersive technology. Together, they created simulations that challenge students to think critically, communicate effectively, and apply deductive reasoning, investigative techniques, and situational judgment in dynamic, story-driven crime scenarios.

Through these virtual experiences, students make informed decisions in complex environments, respond to evolving incidents, and explore the human and ethical dimensions of policing. The result is a comprehensive experiential learning platform that mirrors real-world investigations while fostering empathy, accountability, and sound professional judgment.

At the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, particularly impacting academic institutions and their teaching methods. With all classes moving online and into video call format, Conestoga College quickly saw the struggle students were having learning skills that normally required hands-on teaching methods.

This ranged from students learning trades skills to emergency services personnel. With no hands-on learning methods, these students wouldn’t be prepared for the workplace and could possibly go without the teachings integral for their safety in the workplace.

"We placed students in one of seven scenarios, ranging from robbery to murder, the crime scene enables students to practice all their investigative skills."

After speaking with Conestoga College and understanding their immediate need for hands-on learning materials for their police foundations students, XpertVR got to work on designing a virtual crime scene environment. XpertVR decided to go this route because professors indicated that crime scene investigation is one of the most challenging skills to teach policing students without a hands-on component. Working alongside Conestoga’s policing eXperts, the Virtual Crime Scene was born.

Placing students in one of seven scenarios, ranging from robbery to murder, the crime scene enables students to practice all their investigative skills. From photographing evidence and dusting for fingerprints to interpreting witness statements and finding murder weapons. Once complete, the student is emailed all the evidence and information they collected, allowing them to draw a conclusion about what happened and write a report.

In addition to building this simulation for virtual reality and enabling full immersion, the simulation was also designed for PC and Mac, allowing Conestoga to quickly scale it to their entire student population. Additionally, having the simulation on a computer enables more accessibility features that some students may need.

As soon as development and testing was complete the virtual crime scene was released to a pilot group of 140 students. Quickly receiving feedback like “After I finished the first scenario, I found myself wanting to see what would happen if I chose different options,” said Police Foundations student Chloe Pollock. “It gave me an example of what your actions could result in and whether these actions had negative consequences.”

Conestoga staff also mentioned that “XpertVR met every milestone, delivered every component on time, and worked beautifully with our content eXperts.” The simulation will now be used by 100’s of Conestoga students every semester.