What can 3D technology bring to education?
This piece is adapted from my original article, “The Archive in 360 with Volumetric Capture”, published in Public Humanities by Cambridge University Press in 2025.
From looking at something to stepping inside it
When we think about digital technology in education, we often think about things like laptops, online lectures, virtual classrooms or perhaps AI tools that can help us write an essay.
But what if digital technology could do something slightly different? What if, instead of simply helping us access knowledge, it could help us experience it?
This is where technologies such as 360-degree imagery, 3D modelling, volumetric capture and virtual reality become particularly interesting.
These are really useful ways of learning. But they also have their limits.
A photograph can show us what something looks like but it cannot necessarily show us how it moves through space. A conventional video gives us movement but we are still watching from the camera’s perspective.
Figure 1.
Note. Short clip (MP4) from OverHerd, directed by Georgia Gendall using volumetric capture, in partnership with the Centre for Blended Realities, Falmouth University. To view the video, please visit https://doi.org/10.1017/pub.2025.10053
Volumetric capture (Figure 1) offers another possibility.
In simple terms, it allows people, objects and spaces to be recorded in three dimensions. Instead of producing just a flat image, it can create a digital representation that allows us to explore movement and space from different perspectives: part of a broader shift in computing toward what has been termed “spatial intelligence” (Brachmann & Prisacariu, 2024).
That might sound futuristic but the educational possibilities are actually quite practical. Imagine learning about a surgical procedure: in lieu of watching a two-dimensional video from a single camera angle, students could potentially explore a three-dimensional recording of the procedure, looking around the virtual environment and examining what is happening from different perspectives: an approach already being trialled in surgical simulation training (Queisner et al., 2022; Figure 2).
Figure 2.
Note. Reconstructed operating room model at Campus Mitte, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin using photogrammetry (a); detailed perspective (b) with wireframe model overlay (c). Source: https://doi.org/10.1177/15533506211054240
Or imagine learning dance.
Instead of simply watching a dancer perform on a screen, students could revisit the performance as a three-dimensional recording, paying attention to what the dancer does as well as how their body moves through space.
The technology therefore opens up a simple but important question: Could we learn differently if we could experience knowledge and not simply look at it?
Education is more than information
This matters because learning is not always about collecting information.
Some forms of knowledge are deeply connected to bodies, movement, space and experience.
Think about learning to play an instrument, performing a piece of theatre, practising medicine, conducting a science experiment or learning a physical skill. In these situations, knowledge is something that sits inside a textbook and it is something we do.
Digital technology can potentially help us capture and revisit these experiences. This is particularly exciting for forms of learning where physical demonstration is important. A medical student, for example, might be able to revisit a recorded procedure. A performer might analyse their own movement. A student studying cultural heritage might explore a digital reconstruction of a historical environment.
Digital technology does not necessarily replace traditional teaching. Instead it can add another layer to it.
But digital does not automatically mean better
There is a temptation to assume that newer technology must automatically produce better education.
I’m not convinced!
A shiny new 3D model is not necessarily more educationally useful than a well-made photograph. And giving students access to virtual reality does not magically make them engaged learners. Technology is a tool, not the learning itself.
There are also important questions about access. High-quality 3D and immersive technologies can require expensive equipment, specialist software, significant computing power and ongoing technical support. So while digital technology might appear to democratise education, it can sometimes create new inequalities.
Who has access to the technology? Who knows how to use it? Who gets to create the digital content? And who decides what is worth recording in the first place?
These questions matter because every digital representation involves choices.
What happens when we digitise people?
There is another issue that becomes important when the technology is capable of capturing human bodies.
If we can record someone’s movements in three dimensions, what exactly have we captured?
A video of someone is already a representation of that person. A three-dimensional digital model takes this one step further. Their body, gestures, movements and presence can potentially be stored, reproduced and used again in ways they may not have anticipated.
This raises questions about consent, ownership and control.
For education, this is especially relevant: imagine a university recording a lecturer, performer, patient or participant using volumetric capture. Who owns that recording? How long should it be kept? Can it be reused for teaching years later? Can students download it? What happens if the person who was recorded later changes their mind?
These are technical questions as well as educational and ethical questions too.
So, what might the future of digital learning look like?
Perhaps the most exciting possibility is that digital technology allows us to rethink what we mean by a learning resource.
A learning resource does not have to be a PDF, a PowerPoint slide or a recorded lecture.
It might be a virtual space. It might be a three-dimensional performance. It might be an interactive reconstruction of a historical environment. It might allow students to move around, look from different angles, revisit an experience and learn through exploration (Figure 3).
Figure 3.
Note. A 3D Gaussian Splatting work (MP4) generated by the author during a workshop session led by Han Abbiss using Scaniverse, Centre for Blended Realities, Falmouth University. To view the video, please visit https://doi.org/10.1017/pub.2025.10053
This could be particularly valuable for subjects where movement, embodiment and spatial relationships are important.
But we should not become so fascinated by the technology that we forget the people using it.
The real question is more than “What can this technology do?”
It is also -
“What can this technology help people learn, experience and understand that they could not easily do before?”
The future of educational technology is unlikely to be about replacing teachers with machines or turning every classroom into a virtual reality playground. Instead, it may be about finding thoughtful ways to combine human teaching with new digital possibilities.
Sometimes the best use of technology is not to give us more information.
It is to help us see, hear, move through and experience knowledge in ways that were previously difficult or even impossible.
And perhaps that is the real promise of digital technology in education: putting learning online and changing what learning itself can look and feel like!
Bibliographies
Brachmann, Eric, and Prisacariu, Victor Adrian (2024). “Building a Large Geospatial Model to Achieve Spatial Intelligence.” Ninantic, November 12. https://nianticlabs.com/news/largegeospatialmodel?hl=en.
Peng, S.-H. L. (2025). The Archive in 360 with Volumetric Capture. Public Humanities, 1, e147. https://doi.org/10.1017/pub.2025.10053
Queisner M, Pogorzhelskiy M, Remde C, Pratschke J, Sauer I. M. (2022). VolumetricOR: A New Approach to Simulate Surgical Interventions in Virtual Reality for Training and Education. Surgical Innovation, 29(3), 406-415. https://doi.org/10.1177/15533506211054240
若需引用此文章內容，請使用下列APA 7格式：
Sheng-Hsiang Lance Peng (September 30, 2026). What Can 3D Technology Bring to Education? Global education linkages: discovering novel trends from the world. https://www.gel-net.com/post/202609-02
