Deep and Meaningful E-Learning with Social Virtual Reality Environments in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review

Stylianos Mystakidis,Eleni Berki,Juri-Petri Valtanen

doi:10.3390/app11052412

Stylianos Mystakidis, Eleni Berki + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/app11052412

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Abstract

Deep and meaningful learning (DML) in distant education should be an essential outcome of quality education. In this literature review, we focus on e-learning effectiveness along with the factors and conditions leading to DML when using social virtual reality environments (SVREs) in distance mode higher education (HE). Hence, a systematic literature review was conducted summarizing the findings from thirty-three empirical studies in HE between 2004 (appearance of VR) and 2019 (before coronavirus appearance). We searched for the cognitive, social, and affective aspects of DML in a research framework and studied their weight in SVREs. The findings suggest that the use of SVREs can provide authentic, simulated, cognitively challenging experiences in engaging, motivating environments for open-ended social and collaborative interactions and intentional, personalized learning. Furthermore, the findings indicate that educators and SVRE designers need to place more emphasis on the socio-cultural semiotics and emotional aspects of e-learning and ethical issues such as privacy and security. The mediating factors for DML in SVREs were accumulated and classified in the resultant Blended Model for Deep and Meaningful e-learning in SVREs. Improvement recommendations include meaningful contexts, purposeful activation, learner agency, intrinsic emotional engagement, holistic social integration, and meticulous user obstacle removal.

Highlights

In a constantly changing information society where knowledge organizations and educational institutions support a knowledge-based economy and the citizens’ well-being, there is a social need to continuously improve the quality of all modes of learning
RQ1: Which Aspects of deep and meaningful learning (DML) Have been Studied in the Context of Distance Higher Education with the Use of social virtual reality environments (SVREs)?
We identified and distinguished the classes of factors and antecedents that mediate DML with SVREs in distance education settings and integrated them into a comprehensive model [6]

Summary

Introduction

In a constantly changing information society where knowledge organizations and educational institutions support a knowledge-based economy and the citizens’ well-being, there is a social need to continuously improve the quality of all modes of learning. The quality improvements should aim to enhance or at least bring about meaningful reforms to all levels of formal education, supporting the learners’ styles of learning and their personalized learning needs. Higher education (HE) is often the most turbulent domain of externally or/and internally or time-driven changes. Such rapid or slow changes are, for instance, the current coronavirus pandemic or various socio-economical changes from financial crises, which most often define the needs for a specific type and mode of learning, re-shaping pedagogic purposes of state-based or other formal education.

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