In the 21st century, in which students tend to spend their time online for games, social networking, creating and sharing contents in technology-mediated experiences (Hu-Au & Lee, 2017), it is indispensable to surround the students with various learning opportunities by the integration of technology. Virtual Reality is one of the ways to facilitate learning recently.
Although virtual reality has been popular in education lately, it has been used public sector for many years. In the late 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, several attempts have been made in developing VR games including Head-mounted display (Horowitz, 2004), yet, they were not completely successful (Kavanagh et al., 2017).
The systematic literature review of Kavanagh et al. states that VR use in education has a positive effect on students’ motivation (Cheung et al., 2013). It facilitates deeper learning and long-term retention as well as an increased time of on-task activities (Huang et al., 2010) and enjoyment (Apostolellis & Bowman, 2014).
According to the same literature review, VR is commonly utilized for simulation. In education, many instructors benefit from simulations in teaching history or developing some skills (such as required for medical activities or flight attendants) which are infeasible to demonstrate in class. Besides, VR gives an opportunity to access limited resources and serves as a training and practising resource for students. These benefits affect the learners and promote active engagement; hence, it assists the progress of learning.
In conclusion, considering the growth in technology usage and integration and learners’ characteristics, the more we benefit from such implications as VR, the more we provide learners with an engaging and entertaining learning environment. In this way, we can arouse learners’ attention, engage them more in the learning process, and contribute to their academic achievement.
References:
Apostolellis, P., & Bowman, D. A. (2014, November). Evaluating the effects of orchestrated, game-based learning in virtual environments for informal education. In Proceedings of the 11th Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (pp. 1–10).
Cheung, S. K., Fong, J., Fong, W., & Wang, F. L. (Eds.). (2013). Hybrid Learning and Continuing Education: 6th International conference, ICHL 2013, Toronto, ON, Canada, August 12–14, 2013, Proceedings (Vol. 8038). Springer.
Horowitz, K. (2004, December). Sega vr: Great idea or wishful thinking. In Sega-16 Forum, 28/12/2004.
Huang, H. M., Rauch, U., & Liaw, S. S. (2010). Investigating learners’ attitudes toward virtual reality learning environments: Based on a constructivist approach. Computers & Education, 55(3), 1171–1182.
Hu-Au, E., & Lee, J. J. (2017). Virtual reality in education: a tool for learning in the experience age. International Journal of Innovation in Education, 4(4), 215–226.
Kavanagh, S., Luxton-Reilly, A., Wuensche, B., & Plimmer, B. (2017). A systematic review of Virtual Reality in education. Themes in Science and Technology Education, 10(2), 85–119.
