[An economics professor at Syracuse University is using presence-evoking virtual reality to help students better understand the impacts of living in societies at different levels of economic development. See the original version of this story for a second image. –Matthew]

[Image: Junior economics major Bram Feenstra during a virtual trip to the subject of his studies: Dushanbe, Tajikistan]

Virtual Reality Shows Students the Realities of Developing Economies

Students in Andrew Jonelis’ Economics of Emerging Markets course have received an up-close view of markets thousands of miles away thanks to the Digital Scholarship Space.

By Renée Gearhart Levy
November 21, 2025

Senior Reese Skelly is floating above Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, pondering where in the capital city he wants to visit first. At least, that’s what it looks like through his virtual reality (VR) headset—he’s actually in Bird Library’s Digital Scholarship Space.

“You’re flying a little fast,” cautions Andrew Jonelis, assistant teaching professor of economics. “Maybe slow down before you make yourself queasy.”

Around him, classmates laugh as Skelly, an economics major, “drops” toward a cluster of corrugated-metal rooftops. On the screen, the class can see what he sees: winding dirt roads and clusters of homes pressed against a modern highway.

“That’s what we talked about in class,” Jonelis says, pointing. “Right there—you’ve got informal housing next to developed neighborhoods. That’s economic development in action.”

It’s all part of an assignment for Jonelis’ Economics of Emerging Markets course, one that trades textbooks for experiential learning. With the help of the Digital Scholarship Space staff, students are using VR headsets and an app called WorldLens (formerly EarthQuest) to “visit” the emerging markets they’re studying—without leaving campus.

Jonelis got the idea during a summer teaching institute that showcased new technologies for the classroom.

“I realized this could help students see what life is actually like in emerging markets,” he says. “Numbers and charts don’t hit home the same way.”

In his course, students examine the vast differences in living standards between advanced economies and developing ones.

“The average person in an advanced economy consumes about $150 a day,” Jonelis says. “In many emerging markets, it’s closer to $10 or even $2 a day. That’s a big difference in resources.”

While he spent the beginning of the semester driving home those statistics, Jonelis believes the ability to visualize that difference will make a greater impact.

“I’ve been to some of these countries, and you can very clearly see what struggling with international poverty looks like,” he says. “Just reading about it does not have the same effect.”

The VR sessions all begin the same way.

“Do you get motion sickness?” Jonelis asks. “Start slowly.”

Students are asked to explore various sites in their target market, take screenshots and later write a Development Consultant Mission Memo reflecting on infrastructure, informal economies and how public services reach people on the ground.

“Do all these citizens have access to clean water, sanitation or proper, safe electricity that’s well regulated?” Jonelis asks. “How do people get around to go to work or school? Can you tell how public services are delivered?”

Junior economics major Bram Feenstra takes the class around Dushanbe, Tajikistan, while Jonelis explains some of what the students are seeing.

“Here the infrastructure doesn’t look too bad, but I bet if you go to the rural areas, you’re going to see more deficient infrastructure that hasn’t been maintained following the fall and collapse of the Soviet Union,” he says.

Next up is Castries, St. Lucia, with Ashley Ryan. She lands in front of the National Insurance Corporation building, then visits the Grass Street area to walk through an urban shantytown and a street full of vendors selling produce and other food.

“It’s very cool to feel like I am standing right there with them,” she says.

Classmate Anna Slight travels to Tandale, a neighborhood of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where the VR places her inside a fruit market before she ventures out to explore different parts of the coastal city.

“Seeing the areas of informal housing we discussed in class really helped me understand what we’re talking about when we say ‘developing economies,’” she says.

For Jonelis, that connection between concept and lived experience is exactly the point.

“VR lets students feel what it’s like to stand in the middle of an emerging market—to notice how people get around, how the economy operates,” he says. “It’s the next best thing to being there.”

The project also showcases how the University’s Digital Scholarship Space is reimagining classroom learning.

“We’re seeing more faculty experiment with immersive technologies,” says staff member Sam Santiago, who helps students with the headsets. “Economics might not be the first discipline you think of for VR—but it works.”

As Slight finishes her virtual tour, Jonelis grins.

“There’s some economic development for you,” he says, watching the headset view flicker between a sleek office building and a nearby settlement of corrugated roof housing.

For a moment, everyone is somewhere between Syracuse and Tanzania, the real and the virtual. Then Slight removes the headset and laughs. “I think I just flew through a mountain,” she says.

“Well,” Jonelis quips, “that’s globalization for you.”