Virtual Reality as a Medium of Asynchronous Content Delivery for Teaching about Enzymes

Abstract

Self-study is an integral part of chemistry learning, whereby the students consume knowledge outside of the classroom environment. The COVID-19 pandemic magnified the need for efficient methods of synchronous and asynchronous instructional content delivery worldwide. Virtual reality (VR) presents a prospective technological solution to aid asynchronous content delivery, particularly for visual subjects such as chemistry. We investigate the feasibility of using carefully designed VR-based content to assist offline instruction about enzymes and the differences in their types. They are an essential concept in biochemistry due to their comprehensiveness and the similarities between their amino acid sequences responsible for their different functions. We compare the efficacy of VR-aided self-study against self-study assisted by recorded video lectures. An experiment is conducted to simulate self-study in three scenarios, i.e., conventional text-based self-study (1) without any additional aids, (2) assisted by recorded video lectures, and (3) with VR aids. Our findings indicate that VR can assist asynchronous content consumption leading to better learning and satisfaction.