Storytelling as Art and Intervention: Using Participatory Design to Develop an Antiracist Virtual Reality Experience

Aim/Purpose: This article presents a comprehensive rubric for evaluating educational virtual reality experiences for mobile devices. The aim of this article is to systematically analyze research to address the quality of virtual reality experiences on mobile applications in order to extend the work of Lee and Cherner (2015) and their instructional application rubric. Background: Ratings in proprietary mobile application stores – The App Store and Google Play, etc. – are generic and do not provide meaningful evaluations of the virtual reality. This article utilizes research in the areas of virtual reality and education to present a comprehensive rubric for evaluating educational virtual reality for mobile applications, which continues to advance previously published, research-based rubrics. Methodology: The methodology uses a systematic process that spans multiple stages. The first stage was to locate pre-existing rubrics for virtual reality, followed by a review of literature focused on it. The third stage was to develop and vet a research-supported rubric for evaluating educational virtual reality. Contribution: The main contribution from this article is that it fills a gap in the literature by presenting a criterion-referenced, research-supported rubric for evaluating the quality of educational virtual reality for mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, and app-connected goggles). Findings: This paper’s findings include the domains, dimensions, and criterion-referenced Likert scale indicators in the form of rubric dimensions for evaluating educational virtual reality. The evaluative domains consist of (1) Positioning of the EduVR, (2) Avatar Level, (3) Virtual Environment, and (4) Virtual Experience. Recommendations for Practitioners: This rubric is a tool for instructional coaches, teacher educators, and instructional technologists to use when recommending virtual reality experiences for instructional purposes. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can use this tool to monitor the quality of educational virtual reality being developed for classroom use. They can also use this rubric to examine educational virtual reality experiences they would use in their studies and evaluate how those educational virtual reality experiences impact student learning, engagement, and collaboration. Impact on Society: We foresee this rubric being an aid in the development, selection, and purchase of educational virtual reality by educational institutions, educators, researchers, edtech developers, and edu-philanthropists, thus advancing the quality and expectations for educational virtual reality experiences. Future Research: Future researchers can further enhance the validity of this rubric by collecting large amounts of data from a diverse set of end users and stakeholders. Also, subsequent rubrics for evaluating augmented reality and extended reality comprise additional research avenues.

Extended-Reality Technologies: An Overview of Emerging Applications in Medical Education and Clinical Care.

BackgroundThere is increasing evidence that virtual reality (VR) is effective in the reduction of labour pain. The implementation of alternative methods like VR to reduce labour pain can contribute to reduce patient request for pharmacological pain management methods and associated side effects. The aim of this study is to examine women’s experiences, preferences and satisfaction in regard to the use of VR during labour.MethodsA qualitative interview study was conducted in a non-university teaching hospital in The Netherlands. Two VR applications, respectively a guided meditation and an interactive game were tested in eligible women with a singleton pregnancy, scheduled for induction of labour. For the primary outcome, patients’ VR experience and application preference (meditation vs. game) were examined using a post-intervention questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Three categories (with sub-categories) were used to guide interviews: “The VR experience”, “Pain reduction”, and “Usability of the VR application”. Labour pain before and directly after VR was evaluated using the NRS score.ResultsTwenty-four women, of whom 14 were nulliparous and ten multiparous, were included and 12 of these women participated in semi-structured interviews. Using within-subject paired t-test comparisons, compared to pain pre-VR, patients reported a highly significant 26% decrease in mean NRS scores during VR meditation (pain pre-VR = 6.71 + − 1.65 vs. pain after VR = 4.96 + − 2.01) [p < 0.001]. Compared to pain before VR game, patients also reported a highly significant 19% decrease in mean NRS scores during VR game (pain before VR game = 6.89 + − 1.88 vs. pain after VR game = 5.61 + − 2.23) [p = 0.001].ConclusionAll women were highly satisfied with VR use during labour. Patients reported a highly significant reduction in pain during the interactive VR game and during meditation, patients preferred guided meditation. These results can contribute to the development of a potential promising new non-pharmacological tool to reduce labour pain.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04858984, date of registration: 26/04/2021 (retrospectively registered).

By watching 360° videos in virtual reality headsets, students may experience being immersed in the portrayed situation. There is a paucity of empirical studies on the application of immersive 360° videos watched in virtual reality headsets for students in health care and social work education and the pedagogical theory guiding the development of such educational tools. This led to our interest in exploring how a virtual reality educational tool involving 360° videos can stimulate emotions and how this can be used as a pedagogical tool in these educational programs. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of faculty members and students regarding a prototype 360° video watched in virtual reality headsets during the development phase of an educational project. We addressed the following research questions: How does the virtual reality prototype stimulate emotions? How can virtual reality be used in higher education for health care and social work students? We used a qualitative design and collected data through focus group interviews with project participants. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Our analysis identified 2 main themes in participants' experiences with the virtual reality prototype. The first theme highlights that when participants experienced watching the 360° video in a virtual reality headset, it stimulated their emotions as an authentic professional experience would. The second theme, contextualization of virtual reality, highlights participants' perceptions of how the virtual reality experience should be incorporated into a safe educational context. Our findings suggest that 360° videos with human actors who use eye contact with the camera can trigger emotions in the viewer and therefore serve as a pedagogic tool that can create authentic professional experiences for students. The participants expressed the view that the virtual reality educational tool could be used to prepare students for real-life practice in health care and social work. However, they underlined that 360° videos in virtual reality need to be contextualized in educational programs to create a safe environment for learning and to ensure follow-up on the emotions such experiences can trigger in students. Our results highlight the perceived importance of allowing students to reflect on the virtual reality experience in a safe setting and of follow-up by faculty members. In-person follow-up with students can be resource intensive for programs with large numbers of students and makes it challenging to offer repeated training, something that has been identified as one of the benefits of virtual reality.

Virtual Reality (VR) has the potential to foster social interaction and improve well-being of older adults. This paper presents two qualitative studies that explore the use of VR to create cultural experiences that enhance the sense of social presence among older adults. Participants (n = 19) tested two VR theatre experiences designed to increase social interaction and the feeling of social presence. The study utilised thematic analysis, and the findings highlight the potential of VR as a medium for cultural service producers and the suitability of older adults as a user group for VR experiences. Adding interaction features that foster social presence in virtual experiences can significantly improve the user experience, with social VR experiences potentially reaching a similar level of social presence as live performances. However, the nascent nature of social VR developed for cultural experiences and the specific needs of older adult users necessitate further research, particularly in relation to the social etiquette surrounding VR-based cultural experiences. The paper contributes to the growing research on utilising VR as a medium to foster social interaction and well-being among older adults.

Recent advancements in memory research indicate that virtual reality (VR) experiences are more vividly memorized as compared to conventional laboratory events. In contrast to the latter, VR experiences are highly immersive, simulating the multimodality, vividness and inclusiveness of real-life experiences. Therefore, VR might enable researchers to identify memory processes underlying events which participants have actually experienced, in contrast to conventional on-screen experiences. To differentiate the electrophysiological correlates of memory processes underlying VR experiences as compared to conventional laboratory experiences, participants watched videos either in a PC condition or in a VR condition, followed by an unannounced recognition memory test. As hypothesized, we replicated the well-established theta old/new effect for the PC condition, but remarkably, this effect was absent in the VR condition. Additionally, the latter was accompanied by significantly lower alpha activity as compared to the PC condition. As increases in theta-band responses are related to top-down control on, and memory load during retrieval, the observed theta responses might rather relate to retrieval effort than to retrieval success per se. Congruently, higher alpha activity measured over occipital sensor areas in the PC condition reflect visually guided search processes within episodic memory. The VR condition comes in with lower alpha activity, reflecting immediate and effortless memory access. Hence, our findings indicate that the retrieval of VR experiences promotes autobiographical retrieval mechanisms, whereas recalling conventional laboratory events comes in with higher effort, which might not reflect the mechanisms of everyday memory.

User Experience and Engagement in the Reality–Virtuality Continuum: A Special Issue Guest Editorial

Virtual reality technologies have given rise to a new breed of space travel, enabling touring of cosmic environments without leaving the Earth. These tours democratize participation in space tourism and expand its itineraries – reproducing while also altering the practices of tourism itself. The chapter explores the ways in which they alter modes of establishing “authentic” tourism destinations and experiences, rendering outer space into a stage for the performance of space travel, while themselves facilitating novel avenues for its social organization and technological assertion. Virtual space tourism not only reflects the progression and metamorphoses in tourist practice and production but also has the potential to influence both the aspirations and prospects of our space futures.

Activities-based virtual reality experience for better audience engagement

Immersive virtual reality is increasingly used to treat chronic pain. Commercial virtual reality experiences offer a way to integrate immersive virtual reality into clinical practice, but selecting appropriate virtual reality experiences for specific patient goals is challenging. We developed the Virtual Reality Activity Analysis for Pain to help occupational therapy professionals assess virtual reality experience physical, sensory, mental, and psychosocial components relevant to chronic pain treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the interrater reliability of the virtual reality activity analysis for pain instrument. Raters assessed 10 virtual reality experiences using the virtual reality activity analysis for pain instrument, which includes 30 items across physical, sensory, mental, and psychosocial categories. We conducted 40 measurements per item and compared them using inter-class correlation coefficients. The virtual reality activity analysis for pain demonstrated excellent interrater reliability (inter-class correlation coefficients = 0.91), with four out of five sections and 55% of items showing good to excellent reliability. Only 16% of items exhibited poor reliability. The virtual reality activity analysis for pain is a reliable tool for analyzing virtual reality experience characteristics, with potential to standardize reviews of commercially available virtual reality experiences, aiding occupational therapy professionals to implement immersive virtual reality into chronic pain management.

The call for engaging undergraduate students in internships is getting louder, not fading away. Undergraduate students are increasingly faced with experiential learning requirements that complement their studies and provide real world experience to increase marketability when looking for a job. This qualitative research study explores the experience of interns from racially minoritized populations to gain understanding of how racial microaggressions are experienced at this unique time. Research has shown that racial microaggressions are experienced in school environments (Beasley as reported in Jones, 2013; Burns, 2014; Davila, 2014; Solorzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000) and workplace environments (Flores, 2013; Gardner & Tyson, 1994), thus this research study assumed that racial microaggressions would occur during internships. Using hermeneutic phenomenology as a methodology, the researcher interviewed six participants twice to investigate their experiences with racism and racial microaggressions experienced during their internships. The interview transcripts were analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to code and develop themes across participant descriptions (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009). Four prevalent themes emerged from the data: (1) subtle racial microaggressions, (2) environmental racial microaggressions, (3) microassaults, and (4) absence of racial microaggressions. The absence of racial microaggressions is included in the findings to include all participant experiences and provide another dimension into the intern experience. The theme of subtle racial microaggressions includes two additional topics to address participant questioning and confusion: (1) attributional ambiguity and (2) intersectionality. The findings of this research study have implications for the practice of intern programs: (1) internship seminar curricula changes to increase opportunities for interns from minoritized populations to explore how racial microaggressions experienced affect their sense of self and their experience; (2) training in identifying and responding to interns who have experienced racial microaggressions; and (3) training for internship supervisors to become more attuned to how racial microaggressions or issues of race may play out for interns from minoritized populations.

This co-design study examined salutogenic potential of mobile virtual reality (VR) experiences as an alternative to participation in a community-based symphonic engagement program (B Sharp), previously found to benefit people with dementia (PWD) and their informal caregivers. Six focus groups were conducted with sixteen adults aged 76–90; three participants had dementia, and two were informal spousal caregivers. No participants had prior VR experience. The study assessed the feasibility of replicating the community-based-arts program in VR, with the goal of enhancing its salutogenic qualities (e.g., positive distraction, engagement, and social connection). Video-recordings of participants while using a mobile head-mounted display (HMD) were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis to compare perceptions of different virtual experiences, including replication or enhancement of B Sharp and a campus tour. Findings suggest participants had positive perceptions of enhanced VR experiences with no adverse effects, although PWD were less enthusiastic and HMD usability was complicated by eyewear use and comfort with technology. Participants reacted most favorably to the enhanced symphonic experience, where they were “virtually” onstage during the performance, suggesting unique experiences beyond what is possible in the real world have the greatest potential for deep immersion for older adults. Results suggest VR has strong potential to replicate and enhance salutogenic qualities of community-based programming by enabling greater access to experiences for older adults and by increasing enjoyment and engagement through experiences not otherwise feasible. Furthermore, this study illuminates advantages of a user-centered, co-design approach when developing VR experiences with community partners and older adults.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of virtual reality exposure on Instagram users’ decisions to visit physical locations and their perceptions of the destination. It also analyzes the mediating role of destination image on the phygical tourism intentions of Instagram users in Indonesia. This study employs a positivist paradigm and uses an explanatory research design to conduct an online survey about virtual reality experiences and outline respondents’ opinions about the decision to visit particular destination. Next, 280 millennial generation Instagram account followers responded to an online questionnaire; the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The criteria for respondents are Indonesian citizens who are Instagram followers and have virtual experience. Most respondents were between the ages of 23-32 years. The research findings indicate virtual reality positively and significantly affects destination image and offline visit decisions. Destination image has a positive and significant effect on offline visit decisions. Virtual reality encounters were incapable of substituting offline visits. The virtual reality encounter affects the perception of a destination and influences the decision to visit specific location in person. Destination images partially mediate the relationship between virtual reality experience and offline visit decisions. This study enhances the understanding of consumer behavior by examining its relationship with technological advancements, particularly among millennials. This paper also offers tangible contributions to tourism marketing management for destination managers. AcknowledgmentsThis publication is partly funded by the Directorate General of Higher Education. The authors also acknowledge the financial support from the Directorate General of Higher Education through Brawijaya University.

As some nature experiences, such as viewing wild animals, may be difficult to implement in science education, immersive virtual reality (VR) technologies have become a promising tool in education. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the effectiveness of nature experiences in VR. In this study, 50 German university students (M = 23.76 years, SD = 3.73 years) from diverse disciplines were randomly assigned to an immersive (head-mounted display; Oculus Quest) or a nonimmersive setting (external computer screen; desktop computer) and individually watched two 360° videos from the social media site YouTube about wolves in their natural habitat. Besides measuring participants’ attitudes towards wolves, we investigated their feeling of presence in the virtual environments with the Spatial Presence Experience Scale (SPES) and the retrospective emotions of interest, joy, and fear with the Differential Affect Scale (M-DAS). The immersive head-mounted display induced higher levels of presence and interest compared to the nonimmersive external computer screen. While higher interest in the screen setting was associated with more positive attitudes towards wolves, such a correlation could not be found in the head-mounted display setting. Thus, our study found that immersive technology could induce interest in a nature experience related to the tested socio-scientific issue, even among people who did not already hold positive attitudes toward the issue. Overall, our findings suggest that 360° videos using immersive technology provide nature experiences with positive affective learning outcomes, even though the study focused on nature experiences in VR and was not an educational experience per se. As we were unable to assess the role of novelty of VR experiences, the application of VR technologies and its effects in larger teaching and learning settings needs to be evaluated in further studies.

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are increasingly becoming integral to educational and training contexts, yet comparative analyses of their effects on simulator sickness and user experience remain limited. Recent advancements in AR/VR headsets, such as the Meta Quest 3, now allow virtual and augmented reality experiences to be delivered through a single device. However, previous research comparing user experiences between virtual and augmented reality did not account for the use of a unified headset in their investigation. This study aims to investigate the differential effects of AR and VR on users’ simulator sickness, engagement, mental workload, and performance, and usability of the training environment. A training module was developed in Unity 3D for both AR and VR focusing on 3D printing using a powder bed fusion (PBF) printer. A within-subject assignment of factors explored the comparison of ten participants’ experiences regarding simulation sickness and printing experiences and performances. Each participant went through the same tasks under simulated environments to explore the implications of AR and VR on user experience. The study found that there was no statistically significant difference in motivation and user experiences between AR and VR using Meta Quest 3. Moreover, the users experienced comparatively higher simulator sickness in VR than in AR. These findings will not only help to fill the gaps in comparative studies of AR and VR but will also help to inform future technological deployments in educational and professional training scenarios.