Old Dominion professor advances XR education and game-based learning research

By AI, Created 10:00 AM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – Dineshkumar Rajendran, a Teaching Assistant Professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, is building a research and teaching profile around game-based learning and immersive education. His work spans a submitted Ph.D. dissertation, peer-reviewed research, student game development, and applied XR projects.

Why it matters: - Dineshkumar Rajendran’s work sits at the intersection of game design, immersive learning, and classroom practice, where universities are looking for more interactive ways to improve student engagement. - His research and teaching output also connect academic work to industry tools and applied technologies, which can shape how students prepare for jobs in gaming, multimedia, and XR.

What happened: - Dineshkumar Rajendran is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Game Design and Development at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. - Rajendran has over 14 years of global experience across the USA, Vietnam, China, and India. - Rajendran recently submitted his Ph.D. dissertation on game-based learning. - Rajendran also published a peer-reviewed article in a Q2 SCIE-indexed journal focused on using artificial intelligence to assess learning through more interactive game-based learning.

The details: - Rajendran has created and taught multiple game development courses at Old Dominion University. - Those courses have reached more than 150 students. - Students in those classes use industry tools including Unity and Unreal Engine. - Rajendran’s practical teaching approach has helped produce more than 50 mobile games that are available in the Google Play Store. - More than 100 students from his program have gone into gaming and multimedia jobs. - Rajendran developed a voice-based navigation system that was patented to help visually impaired users. - Rajendran also holds multiple international design registrations in virtual reality technologies. - Rajendran has collaborated with HCL Technologies on augmented reality and virtual reality applications. - Rajendran is a co-author of a book on virtual reality in education. - Rajendran is also working in quantum machine learning, signaling a multidisciplinary research portfolio. - Rajendran is building his own games and learning materials to expand interactive learning options.

Between the lines: - Rajendran’s profile reflects a broader push in higher education to tie immersive technology research to measurable classroom outcomes and workforce skills. - The mix of patents, design registrations, and industry collaboration suggests an effort to move beyond theory and into deployable tools. - The announcement positions Rajendran as part of the emerging wave of educators using XR and game-based learning to reshape instruction.

What’s next: - Rajendran is continuing to develop games and learning materials that could add to the pool of interactive educational tools. - His work in immersive education and quantum machine learning suggests additional research and product development could follow.

The bottom line: - Rajendran is pairing academic research with hands-on teaching and applied XR work, making him a notable contributor to game-based learning at Old Dominion University.