Immersive Learning Explored: Subjective and Objective Factors Influencing Learning Outcomes in Immersive Educational Virtual Environments

Abstract

Recent studies in Immersive Learning show that different factors influence the learning outcomes in Educational Virtual Environments (EVEs). An underlying theory about learning in EVEs from an educational perspective is yet lacking. To enhance immersive learning research, a systematic framework of immersive learning processes as a theoretic foundation is required in order to appropriately discuss these processes. This paper summarizes the factors influencing learning in EVEs and introduces their localization in the Helmke's pedagogical supply-use-model. Presence as the subjective feeling of “being there” is emphasized as the central criterion influencing immersive learning. Presence is influenced by objective and subjective factors. The objective factors which are provided by the technology are summarized under the term immersion; the subjective factors consist of the motivational, cognitive, and the emotional factors. They are summarized as (immersive) learning potential. The localization of these predictor variables of learning outcome in Helmke's supply-use-model results in the educational framework for immersive learning (EFiL), which provides an educational understanding of immersive learning as “learning activities initiated by a mediated or medially enriched environment that evokes a sense of presence”. It constitutes a first educational reflection of immersive learning processes which has to be pursued and evaluated by empirical research.