ALIVE
Agency in Learning, Immersive & Virtual Environments
The ALIVE project investigates how learners exercise agency in immersive and virtual environments. Grounded in a theoretical framework of learner agency as a capacity shaped by context, the project examines the design conditions — in both digital and physical environments — that enable learners to act with intention, persistence, and critical awareness. The lab brings together graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and community partners at UBC.
Supported By
Social Sciences and Humanities Research CouncilGuiding Questions
Research Questions
- 1
How do learners exercise and develop agency in postdigital learning environments?
- 2
What design conditions in virtual and immersive environments support the emergence of learner agency?
- 3
How can agency be reliably measured across diverse educational contexts?
Approach
Methods Overview
Mixed-methods design combining experimental and quasi-experimental studies in virtual inquiry environments, psychometric development of agency measures, and qualitative analysis of learner experience. Game-based assessments and learning analytics provide novel windows into the emergence of agency in real time.
Directed by Jillianne Code with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from the Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy at UBC.
- Strategic
- steady and deliberate action across data sources
- Mismatched
- observed agency and self-perceived agency did not align
- Emerging
- consistent procedures and some intentionality
- Intuitive
- strong causal insight in think-alouds but did not use systematic strategies
Outputs
Publications
2026
Expressions of learner agency in virtual inquiry: Linking agency and evidence-centered game design
Code, J., Forde, K., Moylan, R., Lutrin, A., Tasabehji, Z., Ralph, R., Mehta, A., Zap, N., & El Banna, N.
Computers & Education
DOI →Postdigital Learner Agency: Navigating Hybrid and Algorithmically Mediated Education
Code, J. (Ed.)
Springer Nature Switzerland
2025
The entangled learner: Critical agency for the postdigital era
Code, J.
Postdigital Science and Education, 7, 336–358
DOI →2020
Agency for learning: Intention, motivation, self-efficacy and self-regulation
Code, J.
Frontiers in Education, 5(19), 1–15
DOI →
Explore the full research program
All active and completed projects, research statement, and the ALIVE Lab.