GEMS Dubai American Academy
With more than 25 years of history and academic excellence, GEMS Dubai American Academy (DAA) is one of the most sought-after American curriculum schools in Dubai, and the only one to receive the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) rating of Outstanding. The school has a future-focused program, which embeds creative design, cutting-edge robotics and digital at its core. Through teaching, learning and innovation, students develop a mastery of multiple literacies and fluencies to support genuine world-class learning, personal growth and future readiness.
ENCOURAGING INNOVATION AND EMPOWERING CREATIVITY
As part of its future-focused program, Dubai American Academy invests in a range of technology, from film-making equipment and green screens to drones and robotics. The school’s ethos of personalised learning means students are encouraged to choose what tech they want to use in class projects and to decide how best to deploy it. “We give students the freedom to focus their learning by using any of the emerging technologies that we have in the school,” explains Dr Sreejit Chakrabarty, Director of AI at GEMS DAA and the Cluster Edu-Innovation Lead at GEMS Education. “They showcase their learning by coming up with a delivery system where they're using these emerging technologies not just to consume the content, but to create content, to showcase their learning.”
ClassVR has become a fundamental part of the school’s tech strategy, thanks to its ability to enable students to become creators of content and not just consumers. Dr Chakrabarty says ClassVR has been “a massive hit” among students and teachers since it was introduced. “It's one of those tools we feel gives us the power to give the ownership of the learning to the students.” Many students at DAA harbour ambitions of a career in content creation, in gaming, movies and similar fields, and ClassVR is playing an important role in fostering those ambitions in the classroom.

“We are entering into the creator economy right now, so we are enabling our students to become creators,” Dr Chakrabarty explains. “ClassVR gives them the opportunity to start creating and curating content from elementary school, and by the time they go to middle school and high school, they can build on their expertise.”
Older students are learning 3D modelling using the ClassVR Merge Cube, which allows them to hold 3D objects using augmented reality (AR). “Merge Cube is a great addition for VR experiences,” says Dr Chakrabarty. “Again, that creation piece comes into play, so students can create their own environment and learn about 3D modelling. These are the skills that are actually shaping the industry right now. So, it's VR, AR, mixed reality all working together, and ClassVR hits all of those in a way that makes sense in the classroom environment.”
GOING BEYOND THE CURRICULUM
When it comes to the role of technology in the classroom, Dr Chakrabarty believes its use should be curriculum agnostic. “Class VR gives you the power to create your own lesson plans across any curriculum area,” he explains. “That's one of the major wins for us because it supports our wider strategy to embed tech in all learning and empower students to take control.”
By moving outside of a linear curriculum approach in this way, teachers at DAA can enable deep cross-curricular learning. One of the examples Dr Chakrabarty cites is a middle school lesson on bird migration. To showcase their learning, one student used ClassVR, including 360 videos, to create a VR experience of a bird migrating from Russia to a hotter climate in the winter. While this might traditionally be seen as a geography or a science lesson, with ClassVR it was transformed into a more powerful and meaningful experience.


“The byproduct of that lesson is learning coding and using an emerging technology in VR,” says Dr Chakrabarty. “But they're learning maths or science, as well as the core subject. This enables the students to showcase their learning or experience the content in a much more immersive and a much more futuristic way.” This kind of experience helps students to make a deeper connection with their learning, no longer as passive consumers, but as active and engaged creators.
"Class VR gives you the power to create your own lesson plans across any curriculum area."
TAKING OWNERSHIP OF THE TECH
When DAA first invested in ClassVR, its Innovation Team was given comprehensive training and support to use the devices. Since then, the school has cascaded that to staff and students, offering training sessions to demonstrate how to get the most out of the technology. “Most of the time it's one-time training only – they don't need any more support or training because it's so easy to use,” explains Dr Chakrabarty.
DAA has also pioneered a digital leaders programme, coupled with the formation of the Student Innovation Teams, where students take ownership of ClassVR devices and the creation of lessons. While this makes it easier for teachers to bring ClassVR into lessons, it also contributes to the ‘flipped classroom’ approach with students creating the lesson and then applied learning taking place in the classroom.

Alongside the ClassVR content community, DAA has started its own VR content sharing project. This allows teachers and students to share content they have created with other teachers and classes, facilitating best practice and helping to save preparation time.
ENGAGING TEACHERS AND PARENTS
At the start of every new term in September, DAA has a ‘tech day’ where all teachers gather in the school’s AI Centre of Excellence to explore some of the tools the school feels they could use in their classrooms. ClassVR has been a constant part of these sessions for the past five years.
“We have around 250 teachers, and almost all of them have used ClassVR,” explains Dr Chakrabarty. “Be it a maths teacher, a science teacher, a physical education teacher, or an Arabic and Islamic teacher, they have all found a way to use ClassVR in their lesson.”
When teachers want to book ClassVR equipment for lessons, they can also book a consultation with the school’s Innovation Team to help design a lesson plan to incorporate VR. Teachers value the ease of use and flexibility, and because ClassVR is made for education, it is quick to set up and easy to deploy, with the headsets charged by the support team and loaded with the relevant content the day before.
Parents, too, have been impressed by what they have seen. Tours of the school often end at the Centre of Excellence where parents can have a look at the tech, including ClassVR. The school recently opened a new Middle School campus to accommodate 1,000 more students after admissions “skyrocketed”, and Dr Chakrabarty says the driving force for this was the school’s academic success, its future-focused vision and the impact of its use of emerging technologies like ClassVR.
As DAA continues to grow, ClassVR will continue to play an important role in fostering innovation and creativity among its students. “We don't consider ClassVR as a product,” says Dr Chakrabarty. “It's a solution to a problem that we have, wherein it fits that gap of students not just learning about content, but visualising and creating content and experiences and environments, which makes the learning even deeper and richer and more impactful.”