360-degree Virtual Reality Video Research Articles

The influence of 360-degree VR videos on tourism web usage behaviour: the role of web navigability and visual interface design quality

Purpose Using the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) theoretical model, this empirical research aims to examine and validate how tourists’ interactions with 360-degree virtual reality (VR) videos incorporating Web navigability and visual interface design quality (stimulus) on travel websites can make tourists more engaged and then satisfied (organism), which could make them more likely to visit destinations and spread electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) (response). Design/methodology/approach Using the convenience sampling method, 975 responses were collected through a questionnaire. The data were analysed using Smart-PLS 4 software to investigate the hypothesised relationships. Findings The findings demonstrate that 360-degree VR videos significantly create Web user engagement, and Web user engagement is significantly associated with Web user satisfaction. The result shows that Web user engagement and satisfaction impact the intention to visit the tourist destination. Additionally, Web user satisfaction impacts e-WOM. Lastly, navigability and visual interface design quality are significantly moderated between 360-degree VR videos and Web user engagement. Research limitations/implications This research only examined the tourists’ behavioural intentions with 360-degree VR videos during the pre-travel phase. In contrast, future research may investigate how tourists behave with VR during the on-site and post-travel phases. Practical implications Tourism marketers should not only adopt 360-degree VR but also integrate Web navigability and visual interface design to boost Web users’ engagement on tourism websites. Originality/value This study advances the study of VR from the tourists’ psychological perspective. Moreover, the SOR theory has been re-examined from the VR and technology tourism perspectives. It provides a general understanding of the behavioural aspects of tourists in developing countries.

Virtual reality and tourism destinations marketing: can it transform travel? evaluating the impact of immersive experiences on travel intentions

ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationship between the immersive VR experience, destination cognitive image, destination affective image, and tourists’ travel intention. The sample of this research is 167 visitors of three tourist attractions of Isfahan Province in Iran, through 360-degree virtual reality videos. In order to collect research data, an online survey and convenience sampling methods were used. PLS-SEM was utilised to assess both the measurement and structural models. The findings indicated that among factors of external technical environment stimuli, media richness has a stronger effect on the formation of the destination's cognitive image than the affective image. Also, perceived interactivity compared to media richness has a significant impact on the formation of the destination's affective image. In addition, vision consistency as an internal technical environment stimulus has a positive effect on the formation of the cognitive and affective image of the destination. Finally, the affective image of the destination resulting from the immersive VR experience has a stronger effect on travel intention than the cognitive image.

Using Virtual Reality Head-Mounted Displays to Assess Skills in Emergency Medicine: Validity Study.

Many junior doctors must prepare to manage acutely ill patients in the emergency department. The setting is often stressful, and urgent treatment decisions are needed. Overlooking symptoms and making wrong choices may lead to substantial patient morbidity or death, and it is essential to ensure that junior doctors are competent. Virtual reality (VR) software can provide standardized and unbiased assessment, but solid validity evidence is necessary before implementation. This study aimed to gather validity evidence for using 360-degree VR videos with integrated multiple-choice questions (MCQs) to assess emergency medicine skills. Five full-scale emergency medicine scenarios were recorded with a 360-degree video camera, and MCQs were integrated into the scenarios to be played in a head-mounted display. We invited 3 groups of medical students with different experience levels to participate: first- to third-year medical students (novice group), last-year medical students without emergency medicine training (intermediate group), and last-year medical students with completed emergency medicine training (experienced group). Each participant's total test score was calculated based on the number of correct MCQ answers (maximum score of 28), and the groups' mean scores were compared. The participants rated their experienced presence in emergency scenarios using the Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ) and their cognitive workload with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). We included 61 medical students from December 2020 to December 2021. The experienced group had significantly higher mean scores than the intermediate group (23 vs 20; P=.04), and the intermediate group had significantly higher scores than the novice group (20 vs 14; P<.001). The contrasting groups' standard-setting method established a pass-or-fail score of 19 points (68% of the maximum possible score of 28). Interscenario reliability was high, with a Cronbach α of 0.82. The participants experienced the VR scenarios with a high degree of presence with an IPQ score of 5.83 (on a scale from 1-7), and the task was shown to be mentally demanding with a NASA-TLX score of 13.30 (on a scale from 1-21). This study provides validity evidence to support using 360-degree VR scenarios to assess emergency medicine skills. The students evaluated the VR experience as mentally demanding with a high degree of presence, suggesting that VR is a promising new technology for emergency medicine skills assessment.

EHTask: Recognizing User Tasks From Eye and Head Movements in Immersive Virtual Reality.

Understanding human visual attention in immersive virtual reality (VR) is crucial for many important applications, including gaze prediction, gaze guidance, and gaze-contingent rendering. However, previous works on visual attention analysis typically only explored one specific VR task and paid less attention to the differences between different tasks. Moreover, existing task recognition methods typically focused on 2D viewing conditions and only explored the effectiveness of human eye movements. We first collect eye and head movements of 30 participants performing four tasks, i.e., Free viewing, Visual search, Saliency, and Track, in 15 360-degree VR videos. Using this dataset, we analyze the patterns of human eye and head movements and reveal significant differences across different tasks in terms of fixation duration, saccade amplitude, head rotation velocity, and eye-head coordination. We then propose EHTask - a novel learning-based method that employs eye and head movements to recognize user tasks in VR. We show that our method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods derived from 2D viewing conditions both on our dataset (accuracy of 84.4% versus 62.8%) and on a real-world dataset ( 61.9% versus 44.1%). As such, our work provides meaningful insights into human visual attention under different VR tasks and guides future work on recognizing user tasks in VR.

Exploring 360-degree virtual reality videos for CSR communication: An integrated model of perceived control, telepresence, and consumer behavioral intentions

Recent years have seen 360-degree virtual reality (VR) being used as a valuable tool in communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns. Built upon the wealth of literature on stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) theory, this study proposed to test a model integrating perceived control of the 360-degree CSR VR technology, telepresence, engagement with VR 360-degree video (VR engagement), CSR advocacy, and purchase intentions. To that end, a nationally representative sample was recruited for a survey that exposed participants to a digital CSR campaign that uses 360-degree VR to increase mental health awareness. Results showed a significant association between participants' perceived control over the VR 360-degree CSR campaign and telepresence as well as their engagement with the VR 360-degree video. Moreover, telepresence and VR engagement were significant mediators in predicting consumers’ willingness to promote social initiatives (CSR advocacy) and purchase intentions. Theoretical and practical implications of the study were discussed.

Comparison of virtual reality platforms to enhance medical education for procedures

Background: Historically, medical education relied on apprentice-based experiences requiring direct observation in patient cases. Simulation-based education has been shown to improve resident confidence but can be time intensive and difficult to coordinate. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need to develop distributed educational tools. Virtual reality (VR) platform has been shown to improve resident confidence and proficiencies. This pilot study compared educational and cost effectiveness of low-cost cardboard viewer VR (CVVR) and commercially available integrated headset VR (IHVR).Methods and Materials: We created a 2D, 360-degree VR video of an intracavitary brachytherapy case for treatment of cervical cancer. Radiation oncology residents from a single ACGME-accredited training program were recruited and randomized to IHVR or CVVR. Both groups were given unlimited access to their randomized technology. Each resident performed a timed intracavitary procedure on a simulator while five implant quality metrics were recorded. A pre- and post-simulation questionnaire assessed self-confidence, procedural knowledge, and perceived usefulness of VR technology.Results: There were 13 residents, including four post-graduate year (PGY)-2, three PGY-3, two PGY-4, and four PGY-5, in the study. Both VR technologies improved self-perceived overall confidence. Average time required for implant (mean: CVVR - 200 s vs IHVR - 235 s, p = 0.38) and median objective proficiencies of implant quality (5/5 in both group, p = 0.56) were similar. There was no difference between CVVR and IHVR as useful, enjoyable and engaging educational tool. Both groups would recommend the technology to another trainee. IHVR-based program would cost ∼33x more than CVVR-based program based on an assessment of US-based programs.Conclusion: CVVR is a cost-effective alternative to a IHVR as a virtual video-based education tool.

A Study on Attention Attracting Elements of 360-Degree Videos Based on VR Eye-Tracking System

In 360-degree virtual reality (VR) videos, users possess increased freedom in terms of gaze movement. As a result, the users’ attention may not move according to the narrative intended by the director and miss out on important parts of the narrative of the 360-degree video. Therefore, it is necessary to study a directing technique that can attract user attention in 360-degree VR videos. In this study, we analyzed the directing elements that can attract users’ attention in a 360-degree VR video and developed a 360 VR eye-tracking system to investigate the effect of the attention-attracting elements on the user. Elements that can attract user attention were classified into five categories: object movement, hand gesture, GUI insertion, camera movement, and gaze angle variation. We developed a 360 VR eye-tracking system to analyze whether five attention-attracting elements influence the user’s attention. Based on the eye tracking system, an experiment was conducted to analyze whether the user’s attention moves according to the five attention-attracting elements. Based on the experimental results, it can be seen that ‘hand gesture’ attracted the second most attention shift of the subjects, and ‘GUI insertion’ induced the smallest shift of attention of the subjects.

Shared Virtual Reality Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring the Gratifications and Effects of Engagement with Immersive Videos.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and recent economic recession have been impacting many people’s mental health. The experience of social distancing created new hardships for people who already reported symptoms of depression or anxiety. In these circumstances, new technologies, such as immersive virtual reality (VR) videos, could serve as useful tools for facilitating interactions, emotional sharing, and information processing within a virtual environment. In this study, researchers aimed to enrich the information processing literature by focusing on the uses and gratifications of 360-degree VR videos during the pandemic. Through employing survey research with 1422 participants located in the U.S. and structural equation modeling for data analysis, this study found that five types of gratification, including utilitarian (i.e., navigation), hedonic (i.e., enjoyment), sensual (i.e., realism), social (i.e., community), and symbolic (i.e., coolness), significantly motivated users to use such immersive videos. Simultaneously, data demonstrated that these five types of gratification could influence users’ cognitive engagement with virtual content. In addition, such VR engagement facilitated users’ positive attitudes toward immersive videos and continued usage of them. The findings provided practical implications for COVID-19 global recovery as well.

The effect of an informative 360-degree virtual reality video on anxiety for women visiting the one-stop clinic for abnormal uterine bleeding: A randomized controlled trial (VISION-trial)

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of an informative 360-degree virtual reality (VR) video on preoperative anxiety before visiting a one-stop clinic for abnormal uterine bleeding. Study DesignA randomized controlled trial was performed in a teaching hospital in the Netherlands. A total of 83 women scheduled for a first consultation at the one-stop clinic between April 2017 and September 2017 were included in the analysis. All women received a standard information leaflet about the clinic. 40 women were randomized to receive a 360-degree VR-video of the clinic in addition. The primary outcome was change in the Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety (VAS-A), measured at baseline (before randomization) and in the waiting room (before visit, after randomization). Anxiety assessed with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) was a secondary outcome. Other secondary outcomes included anxiety during the visit and the opinion of the women about the provided information. ResultsOnly 27 out of the 40 women actually watched the VR-video. Women in the VR-group who actually watched the video reported lower levels of anxiety at baseline compared to women in the VR-group who did not watch the video. In the intention-to-treat analysis, there was no difference in change in anxiety between the VR-group and the control group (mean difference VAS-A = 0.07, 95% CI –0.96 to 1.10; mean difference STAI-S = 1.97, 95% CI –1.82 to 5.77). In the per-protocol analysis, women in the VR-group reported lower anxiety scores in the waiting room. However, the change in anxiety scores between baseline and waiting room was comparable in both groups. 31% of the women who watched the VR-video reported that the video resulted in a reduction of anxiety, 69% reported that the video is of added value and 65% would use a VR-video again in future. ConclusionsAdding the informative 360-degree VR-video to conventional information did not result in a reduction of anxiety prior to visiting the one-stop clinic. However, the majority of women who watched the video felt that it was of added value. Remarkable was that women who reported higher anxiety at baseline seemed less willing to watch the video.

Virtual reality as a promotion tool for small independent stores

Based on flow theory, we examined whether, compared to conventional online stores, 360-degree based virtual reality (VR) videos of a small independent store can enhance customers' store experience and their responses to the store through heightened flow state. Two types of stimuli creating different experiences were used for the experiments. The first stimulus type was a 360-degree VR video experience where respondents experienced the store of a small fashion retailer. The second was a website experience exploring the website of the same store. Results indicate that customers' VR experience (i.e., exploring the physical store in a VR setting), compared to website experience (i.e., exploring the same store's online store), enhanced their flow state, which, in turn, increased interest and visit intention toward the store. The findings suggest that 360-degree VR videos can be an effective customer acquisition tool for small retailers with limited resources because the software and hardware required to operate 360-degree VR videos are inexpensive and less complicated for small companies.

Use of 3-dimensional 360-degree virtual reality video in dermatologic and reconstructive surgery and Mohs micrographic surgery

Video recording of surgical procedures has revolutionized dermatologic surgery education, and trainees are now able to learn in a virtual workshop setting and gain valuable experience and insight. 1 Alam M. Nodzenski M. Yoo S. Poon E. Bolotin D. Objective structured assessment of technical skills in elliptical excision repair of senior dermatology residents: a multirater, blinded study of operating room video recordings. JAMA Dermatol. 2014; 150: 608-612 Crossref PubMed Scopus (26) Google Scholar , 2 Kantor J. Application of Google Glass to Mohs micrographic surgery: a pilot study in 120 patients. Dermatol Surg. 2015; 41: 288-289 Crossref PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar , 3 Kantor J. First look: Google Glass in dermatology, Mohs surgery, and surgical reconstruction. JAMA Dermatol. 2014; 150: 1191 Crossref PubMed Scopus (18) Google Scholar For complex procedures and those involving the extensive assistance of support staff, however, traditional video recording fails to capture the myriad interactions between the attending surgeon and the patient and staff. The flow and content of these interactions are a vital element of the trainee's experience, and understanding what is occurring not just within the confines of the surgical site proper, but elsewhere in the room as well, is part of the experience gained by trainees during a live preceptorship.

Interoceptive Dramaturgies of ‘Surrogate-selves’ in Performative VR Experiences

Through a close analysis of interoceptive dramaturgies, and by drawing on neuroscientific and cognitive definitions of interoception, this article will explore what is at stake in employing interoceptive oriented design in performative virtual reality (VR) environments and the ethical implications of manipulating corporeal experiences through these perceptual modalities. I examine two contrasting performative VR experiences: a one-to-one interactive virtual reality performance—Goodnight, Sleep Tight (2017) by ZU-UK—and Half-Life Alyx (2020)—a VR game by Valve. The first case study is part one-to-one performance and 360-degree VR video inviting the participant to experience a dream through the eyes of a child. It is a gentle, poetic and subtly constructed VR experience that draws the participant into the world of childhood memories. The second case study is a survival horror videogame set in a three-dimensional (3D) VR environment replete with violence, gore and invasive interactivity. Despite the contrasts between the two case studies I contend, following Liam Jarvis’s (2019) insight, that in both cases players/participants are construed and perform as ‘surrogate selves’ of their respective avatars. I also argue that their experiences are to a great extent conditioned through interoceptive aesthetics.

The potential of 360-degree virtual reality videos to teach water-safety skills to children

This study investigated the potential of Virtual Reality (VR), using 360-degree (360°) videos, as a tool to teach children about water-safety skills. Children (n = 182) aged 10–12 years were randomly assigned to learn about water safety using one of three instructional mediums: 360° VR videos, traditional video, or poster. The training was designed to address specific themes that contributed to drowning in coastal environments, allowing children to learn about dangers of rip currents in a relatively safe environment. Overall, 95% showed improved knowledge of water safety after participating in the water-safety workshop and retained their knowledge during the subsequent tests both one and eight weeks later. No difference was found in the learning outcomes obtained across the three mediums; however, participants in the 360° VR medium reported higher levels of interest and enjoyment than participants using the other two mediums (91% of students in the 360° VR video group found the activity engaging versus 61% for traditional video and 51% for the poster). Teacher feedback also indicated that 360° VR videos are a useful, engaging, and effective method of learning. Overall, we found support for the hypothesis that 360° VR videos are a useful tool to teach targeted skills, and that using 360° VR videos is more motivating and engaging than using traditional learning methods. We also found evidence to support the hypothesis that 360° VR videos are an effective tool for self-directed learning.

Personal identifiability of user tracking data during observation of 360-degree VR video

Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that is gaining traction in the consumer market. With it comes an unprecedented ability to track body motions. These body motions are diagnostic of personal identity, medical conditions, and mental states. Previous work has focused on the identifiability of body motions in idealized situations in which some action is chosen by the study designer. In contrast, our work tests the identifiability of users under typical VR viewing circumstances, with no specially designed identifying task. Out of a pool of 511 participants, the system identifies 95% of users correctly when trained on less than 5 min of tracking data per person. We argue these results show nonverbal data should be understood by the public and by researchers as personally identifying data.

Measuring quality of experience for 360-degree videos in virtual reality

In recent years, we witness dramatic growing attention in immersive media technologies like 360-degree videos and virtual reality (VR). However, measuring the quality-of-experience (QoE) for 360-degree VR videos is not a trivial task. Streaming such videos to head mounted displays (HMDs) is extremely bandwidth-demanding when compared to traditional 2D videos. In HTTP adaptive streaming, QoE tends to deteriorate significantly during fluctuating network conditions, which results in various bitrate changes and causes multiple stalling events during playback. Thus, understanding how the human visual system perceives 360-degree video with the effect of stalling and different bitrate levels becomes inevitable. In this paper, we investigate the impact of stalling on users QoE under different bitrate levels and the interaction between stalling event and bitrate level for 360-degree videos in VR. To aim this, we first build a 360-degree videos database by encoding videos in three different bitrate levels (1, 5, and 15 Mbps) with 4K resolutions ($3840\times1920$ pixels). We then simulate various stalling events in the videos and conduct a subjective experiment in a virtual reality environment to investigate the human responses. Finally, we use a Bayesian method to estimate and predict the QoE while measuring the quality drop owing to various stalling events and bitrate changes. Proposed solution and prediction results show a strong dependency between playback stalling and bitrate of 360-degree video in VR. Stalling always impacts the QoE of 360-degree videos, but the strength of this negative impact depends on the video bitrate level. The adverse effect of stalling events is more profound when bitrate level approaches to the high and low end, which is in close agreement with subjective opinion.

Virtual reality video promotes effectiveness in advance care planning

BackgroundIn 2019, the Patient Autonomy Act went into effect, allowing Taiwanese citizens to establish legal advance decisions. In an effort to secure a more realistic and accurate perception of situations, a virtual reality video was developed by the palliative care team of Chi-Mei hospital in southern Taiwan for citizens to use before advance care planning. This study explores the change in participants’ preference and certainty regarding end-of-life decisions after using this tool.MethodsParticipants were at least 20 years old and capable of reading and understanding the information provided in the written handout with information about the legal process of making an advance decision. They completed pre-test questionnaires, viewed a six-minute 360-degree virtual reality video on a portable headset, and then completed a post-test questionnaire about their preference on the five medical options—CPR, life-sustaining treatments, antibiotics, blood transfusion, and artificial nutrition and hydration—followed by feedback on the helpfulness of the virtual reality. The control group included 40 participants who only read the handout and completed pre-test and post-test questionnaires.ResultsAfter viewing the virtual reality video, preference for not using CPR, life-sustaining treatment, antibiotics, blood transfusion, and artificial nutrition and hydration increased significantly in the virtual reality intervention group. Uncertainty regarding the five medical options mentioned above significantly decreased. The intervention was generally recognized by participants for its help in making decisions.DiscussionThe decrease in the number of participants who could not make decisions indicates that the virtual reality video may be helpful for users in making end-of-life decision. According to feedback, the virtual reality video helped equip users with better understanding of medical scenarios, and that it is a good decision tool for advance care planning.ConclusionThis is the first study since the Patient Autonomy Act has been passed that explores the effectiveness of using a virtual reality video as a decision tool in advance care planning and reveals decreased preference of CPR, life sustaining treatment, antibiotics, blood transfusion, and artificial nutrition and hydration after intervention. This decision aid proved to be an effective tool for clarifying their end-of-life care preferences.

Social Anxiety Can Be Triggered by 360-Degree Videos in Virtual Reality: A Pilot Study Exploring Fear of Shopping.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) involves intense fear of being scrutinized, judged, or embarrassed in public. Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is an exposure tool for SAD. Previous studies have developed computer-generated avatars and virtual environments, but this method is time-consuming and expensive. Preliminary evidence shows that 360-degree virtual reality (VR) videos with real-life situations may be an easy, relatively cheap, and effective alternative. This study aimed to develop VR videos with real-life content from a shopping situation and to evaluate participants' anxiety responses and feelings of presence. Three 360-degree VR videos were filmed in a shopping center. Nine patients with SAD and nine controls matched on gender and age participated in the study. The participants' levels of anxiety during the VR videos were assessed using the Subjective Unit of Discomfort Scale and through semistructured interviews. The SAD patients reported higher levels of presence and significantly increased anxiety levels before, during, and after the videos, whereas controls reported no symptom of anxiety. The patients found the videos authentic and recommended VRET to be integrated into the early stages of treatment before in vivo exposure. Anxiety responses can be triggered in patients with SAD by 360-degree shopping videos. Further studied are needed to investigate the potential of using 360-degree videos for VRET in anxiety disorders.

A Hierarchical Buffer Management Approach to Rate Adaptation for 360-Degree Video Streaming

For the 360-degree virtual reality (VR) videos, to achieve the same user-perceived playout quality with traditional video, the overall video bitrate has to be much higher, which significantly increases the bandwidth requirement. To overcome this issue, most of rate adaptation schemes are proposed based on the users' Field of View (FoV), since users only view part of the entire videos when watching 360-degree videos. However, the FoV prediction is only valid in short terms which incurs low robustness against network dynamics and results in frozen screen events. Since the playback buffer can effectively avoid re-buffering by storing videos in advance, we propose a two-layered hierarchical buffer-based rate adaptation scheme for 360-degree VR videos in this paper. The tiles will be updated to enhance the video quality in the short buffer layer based on FoV prediction, meanwhile the long buffer layer takes charge of downloading new chunks to guarantee the buffer occupancy. To better improve the quality of experience (QoE), we jointly consider the users' FoV, channel conditions and buffer status. Our method achieves a good trade-off between video quality and buffer occupancy. Besides, the maximum buffer level selection is optimized to further improve the performance. The simulation results show that our proposed scheme and algorithms outperform other methods by about 5%-30% of QoE improvement.

QoE Evaluation Methods for 360-Degree VR Video Transmission

Virtual reality (VR) videos, especially 360-degree VR videos, have attracted substantial research interests with the explosion of mobile VR devices in recent years. In this work, we propose a VR quality of experience (QoE) evaluation framework including online, offline and mixed scenarios that can meet the requirement of real applications. Under this framework, we further develop a subjective evaluation method and an objective QoE evaluation model based on network transmission parameters. A VR panoramic video database is established with nine different contents. This database contains 468 different samples coming from nine original contents. Then, in the subjective evaluation part, we propose to adopt four dimensions, i.e., quality score, immersion score, non-spinning sensation score and global score for the subjective evaluation purpose. These dimensions can meet the interaction and immersion features of the VR video service. In the objective evaluation part, an improved two-step neural network (INN) model is developed by using the features of the physiological psychology and cognitive neurology. This model captures the intrinsic link between the initial input network parameters and the final perception in VR transmission. Our results suggest that the proposed INN can achieve a higher pearson correlation coefficients than the other methods. Especially, it increases by 8.9% than the traditional NN method. Our work can make up for the shortage of traditional evaluation methods in term of the VR QoE subjective and objective evaluation in transmission scopes.

Enhancing Intercultural Competence with 360-Degree Virtual Reality Videos

ABSTRACT For the past few decades, computer technology has been increasingly used in all aspects of language learning. Virtual reality (VR), which allows learners to experience immersive environments through the use of VR goggles, has been found to change their perceptions, behaviors, attitudes, and empathy levels, all of which are critical for enhancing intercultural competence. Although there is a growing body of research on the pedagogical advantages of VR applications, hardly any studies have examined how it might enhance intercultural competence in the foreign-language classroom. In part, this absence may be due to a lack of appropriate VR-based foreign-language curricula informed by theory and sound instructional principles. In light of this, this study proposes a curriculum initiative that incorporates 360-degree VR videos for cultural learning in college-level foreign-language classes. After introducing the potential benefits of VR technologies, it highlights relevant learning theories and provides specific classroom examples of VR for intercultural competence, before concluding with implications and recommendations for future curriculum design.