Overview
Coomera Anglican College is a leading independent school on the Gold Coast, supporting over 1,500 students from early learning through to Year 12. With a strong focus on innovation and future-focused education, the College continually explores new technologies to enhance teaching outcomes and student engagement.
Already home to the Imaginarium, a fully immersive 360-degree projection theatre designed for younger students, the College sought a scalable solution that could extend immersive learning into junior secondary and senior classrooms.
The Challenge
While the Imaginarium provided an engaging, shared immersive experience, the College identified a need for a more flexible technology that could:
- Support older students in practical, curriculum-based learning
- Blend digital content with real-world environments
- Improve spatial understanding and design accuracy
- Move beyond novelty and deliver measurable learning outcomes
The goal was not just to introduce new technology, but to ensure it delivered long-term educational value, improved collaboration, and deeper student understanding.
The Solution
Alliance Business Technologies worked closely with the College to explore emerging mixed reality solutions. Through its partnership network, ABT facilitated access to Microsoft HoloLens via an Extended Reality as-a-Service offering.
This enabled the College to trial and implement mixed reality in a classroom setting without the complexity of managing the technology independently.
ABT’s role included:
- Identifying a suitable mixed reality solution aligned to the College’s strategic goals
- Facilitating partnerships with key vendors and service providers
- Supporting deployment and integration into classroom use cases
- Enabling teachers and students to adopt and experiment with the technology
The Implementation
The HoloLens devices were introduced into design and technology classes, where students were already using 3D modelling software such as SketchUp.
By integrating HoloLens into the workflow, students could:
- Visualise their digital designs in real-world environments
- Assess scale, proportion, and usability more accurately
- Walk through structures and evaluate practical design elements
- Identify issues such as spacing, shading, and accessibility
This transformed digital design from a screen-based activity into an interactive, spatial experience.
The Outcome
Improved Learning Outcomes
Students gained a far better understanding of scale and spatial awareness compared to traditional 3D modelling tools. Designs could be tested in context, leading to more accurate and practical outcomes.
Stronger Engagement and Collaboration
The immersive nature of mixed reality encouraged discussion, collaboration, and idea-sharing between students. Rather than working in isolation, students actively engaged with each other’s designs and concepts.
Real-World Application
The ability to see and interact with their designs in a physical environment helped students connect theoretical learning with real-world applications, improving retention and understanding.
Positive Student Experience
Students responded enthusiastically to the technology, with many expressing excitement and continuing discussions outside the classroom. The intuitive and comfortable design of the HoloLens ensured extended use without disrupting learning.
Long-Term Value
A key priority for the College was ensuring that the technology would deliver value beyond initial engagement. The HoloLens deployment demonstrated:
- Strong potential for expansion into broader subject areas
- Ongoing student-driven innovation and curiosity
- Sustainability as an educational tool, not just a short-term initiative
Students are already identifying new use cases and opportunities, showing that the technology is enabling a mindset of exploration and innovation.
Partnership Impact
This project highlights the strength of collaboration between Alliance Business Technologies, its partners, and Coomera Anglican College.
By leveraging industry partnerships and combining technologies into a cohesive solution, ABT enabled the College to bring advanced mixed reality learning into the classroom in a practical and scalable way.
Conclusion
Through its partnership with Alliance Business Technologies, Coomera Anglican College has successfully extended its immersive learning capabilities beyond the Imaginarium and into everyday classroom experiences.
The introduction of Microsoft HoloLens has enhanced student engagement, improved learning outcomes, and opened new pathways for innovation in education.
This project demonstrates how mixed reality can move beyond experimentation and become a meaningful, long-term part of modern teaching and learning.
