HERMANTOWN — Students and faculty at Hermantown Community Schools are looking at education through a different lens — virtual reality glasses, to be specific.
Hermantown High School is one of six districts across the state piloting new “immersive” career and technical education courses from Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis. As part of the program, Dunwoody Immersive aims to bring skilled trades education to high school campuses through virtual technology.
“We built Dunwoody Immersive because a student’s ZIP code shouldn’t decide whether they get a shot at a high-paying career in the skilled trades,” Dunwoody Vice President of Enrollment Management Cindy Olson said in a news release. “This closes that gap.”
Dunwoody officially launched the program earlier this month. Students can earn high school and college credit through online coursework and “mixed-reality” labs.
Hermantown seniors Rachel Hale, left, and Sophie Schulz, right, are among 13 students participating in two newly launched virtual reality courses.
Contributed / Hermantown Community Schools
Two pilot courses, focused on electrical systems and global architecture, respectively, run between 14 and 16 weeks throughout the fall semester.
“The kids are thrilled with it,” said Scott Larson, Hermantown’s CTE and Work-Based Learning coordinator. “They don’t have to leave the building, and they get to do this really cool immersive. They do their lectures online, and then, let’s say they’re in the DC circuits course. They put on a VR headset and they actually start wiring houses and learning how DC circuits work.”
While the labs won’t officially start for Hermantown until October, students have already begun to experiment and practice with the virtual reality headsets. The district invested in a set of five headsets, costing between $400 to $500 each, for students to use in the classroom, Larson said.
Hermantown seniors Rachel Hale, left, and Bryden Giesen, right, try out a pair of virtual reality headsets.
Contributed / Hermantown Community Schools
It’s a different way of learning, he added, to have students receive online instruction and then schedule lab time to get “hands-on” experience using virtual reality simulations. Without leaving campus, Larson said, students can visit a job site to work on circuits, or visit the Sistine Chapel for the global architecture class.
“The opportunities are probably limitless, but this was a great way to get the ball rolling through the partnership with Dunwoody,” Larson said. “It’s a very independent and very interesting approach to some of these educational opportunities.”
Hermantown is the only district in the Northland participating in the pilot run, with a total of 13 students between the two course options. The district is receiving the curriculum for free this semester.
“We’re hoping to build not only the programming but the use of some of those VR headsets, because I think that’s the way a lot of really interesting educational opportunities are headed,” Larson said. “My thought is it’s gonna be very successful, so we’re gonna see where it takes us.”
Emma McNamee joined the Duluth News Tribune in February 2025 as a reporter covering K-12 schools and higher education in the Duluth area.