Virtual Reality in Education

Virtual reality in education:

Virtual reality (VR) is a three-dimensional, virtual environment generated by a computer that immerses users into a present-time simulation (Southgate,2018). VR technology transforms the traditional educational context, as it enables students to visualise the content, connect with it, and converts learning into a hands-on, interactive, real world experience, where it would not usually be possible (Southgate, 2018). Teachers have the ability program their lessons to include a multitude of learning experience, for example: field trips, visiting space, to explore time periods in history or to visit another country (Freina and Ott, 2015). These learning experiences provide the opportunities to inspire students to explore, extend and deepen their learning. As VR offers a platform for students to fully engage themselves in the learning, which increases intrinsic motivation and supports students to be active participants in their learning (Dede, 2009). Immersive VR leads to superior attention levels from students as they are completely engrossed within the virtual environment. It is shown that with greater levels of attention, it ultimately impact student creativity as studies suggest that creativity was dependent on attention (Yang et al., 2018).

CoSpaces:

A particular application of VR is CoSpaces, it is an online platform where users design and create 3D environments that can be used in line with VR technology (CoSpaces Edu, 2020). This application offers it users the tools to demonstrate and express their creative skills, as the applications offers the user choice in designing a backdrop, to add different sounds, display images, include objects and even people (CoSpaces Edu, 2020). Using this in an educational setting encourages higher order thinking skills and critical and creative skills, relevant to the NSW Syllabus (NESA, 2012). Additionally, CoSpaces has a coding function called CoBlocks where the user can code their object to move or their people to talk and walk (CoSpaces Edu, 2020).

As VR is still an emerging technology, there are still some drawbacks including cost, technology functionality, safety and ethical concerns (Kavanagh et al., 2017). This requires the teacher to embrace and utilise informed decision-making skills and diverse strategies for suitability.

References:

CoSpaces Edu. (2020). CoSpaces:Make AR & VR in the classroom. https://cospaces.io/edu/

Davis, S., Nesbitt, K., & Nalivaiko, E. (2014, December). A systematic review of cybersickness. In Proceedings of the 2014 Conference on Interactive Entertainment, (pp. 1-9). ACM.

Dede, C. (2009). Immersive interfaces for engagement and learning. science, 323(5910), 66-69

Freina, L., & Ott, M. (2015). A literature review on immersive virtual reality in education: State of the art and perspectives. In The International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education (Vol. 1, p. 133). National Defence University.

NESA – NSW education standards authority. (2012). English K-10 syllabus.

Roberts, R. (2019, November 25). VR , AR, & MR in education. Medium. https://medium.com/awecademy/vr-ar-mr-in-education-e789bfe5b869

Southgate, E. (2018). Immersive virtual reality, children and school education: A literature review for teachers.