Building an Instructional Design Model for Immersive Virtual Reality Learning Environments

Abstract

The recent increase in affordability of immersive virtual reality learning environments (IVRLEs) grows the interests of university, school, and industry training contexts. Due to their unique affordances, these environments have the potential to lead to a paradigm shift in learning experience design. The absence of learning design models, however, represents a significant challenge to the widespread and effective utilisation of this technology platform. Several researchers have proposed design models for virtual reality learning environments (VRLEs). The majority of these models don't explicitly consider the unique characteristics of Immersive environments. This research describes an instructional design model for IVRLEs, which draws upon Dalgarno and Lee's affordance model for VRLE and Tacgin's IVRLE development stages for teaching concepts and procedures. The specific learning strategies and affordances of IVRLEs are matched with the features of current IVR systems and technologies.