Abstract
The adoption of immersive virtual reality (I-VR) as a pedagogical method in education has challenged the conceptual definition of what constitutes a learning environment. High fidelity graphics and immersive content using head-mounted-displays (HMD) have allowed students to explore complex subjects in a way that traditional teaching methods cannot. Despite this, research focusing on learning outcomes, intervention characteristics, and assessment measures associated with I-VR use has been sparse. To explore this, the current systematic review examined experimental studies published since 2013, where quantitative learning outcomes using HMD based I-VR were compared with less immersive pedagogical methods such as desktop computers and slideshows. A literature search yielded 29 publications that were deemed suitable for inclusion. Included papers were quality assessed using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI). Most studies found a significant advantage of utilising I-VR in education, whilst a smaller number found no significant differences in attainment level regardless of whether I-VR or non-immersive methods were utilised. Only two studies found clear detrimental effects of using I-VR. However, most studies used short interventions, did not examine information retention, and were focused mainly on the teaching of scientific topics such as biology or physics. In addition, the MERSQI showed that the methods used to evaluate learning outcomes are often inadequate and this may affect the interpretation of I-VR’s utility. The review highlights that a rigorous methodological approach through the identification of appropriate assessment measures, intervention characteristics, and learning outcomes is essential to understanding the potential of I-VR as a pedagogical method.
Highlights
The increasing financial feasibility of virtual reality (VR) has allowed for educational institutions to incorporate the technology into their teaching
VR has made an important contribution to education in that it has allowed for students to directly experience environments or situations that are difficult to replicate by using traditional teaching methods such as lectures, slideshows, or 2D videos
The study demonstrated that those in the immersive virtual reality (I-VR) condition performed significantly better in the two-dimensional problems than their desktop VR (D-VR) counterparts, there was no significant difference between groups in problems featuring only one spatial dimension
Summary
The increasing financial feasibility of virtual reality (VR) has allowed for educational institutions to incorporate the technology into their teaching. As Dickey (2005) alludes to, this has both challenged and expanded the very conceptual definition of what is defined as a learning environment Where once this would have been restricted to classroom teaching or field trips, VR’s innate ability to give users a sense of presence and immersion has opened new possibilities in education if implemented appropriately (Häfner et al 2018). One of VR’s most important contributions to education is that it has allowed students to repeatedly practice complex and demanding tasks in a safe environment. This is true of procedural tasks such as surgical operations or dental procedures that cannot be carried out for real until a certain level of competency has been achieved (Alaraj et al 2011; Larsen et al 2012). VR has made an important contribution to education in that it has allowed for students to directly experience environments or situations that are difficult to replicate by using traditional teaching methods such as lectures, slideshows, or 2D videos
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