The sense of presence is a key feature of user interaction with a virtual reality system. Technological factors, user characteristics and content factors may influence user's sense of presence. While presence is considered an important feature of educational virtual environments which may contribute in a positive student experience, its benefits in learning outcomes has rarely been investigated. The aim of this doctoral thesis is to investigate the impact of virtual reality characteristics (technological and content) and user characteristics on sense of presence and learning outcomes, in an educational virtual environment concerning ancient Greek pottery.A highly interactive virtual environment depicting an excavation site was designed and developed. Initially, users were visited the showroom with a collection of ancient pots where they acquired the necessary knowledge in order to involve in authentic interactive learning activities inside the virtual environment. Two empirical studies were conducted and the sample consisted of pre-service education students of the Department of Primary Education, the University of Ioannina. Regarding technological factors, the studies were focused on viewing condition. In the first study, the impact of screen size was studied, whether in the second study the impact of stereoscopic or monoscopic presentation of the virtual content was investigated. Domain specific interest in the discipline and user experience in playing video-games were the user factors examined. The content of the virtual environment were differentiated by applying two different didactic strategies.Results showed that didactic strategy is the only factor that influences the learning outcomes. Users who involved in learning tasks have better performance in the post-test than the students who just visited the collection of ancient pots. Stereoscopic presentation did not affect learning outcomes or the sense of presence. Domain specific interest associated with higher level of presence, while user experience in playing videogames resulted in less time for completing the learning activities. Finally, the sense of presence was not related to learning outcomes. This thesis highlights the necessity of the proper didactic design for the accomplishment of learning goals in an educational virtual environment. It also provides new empirical data in the research of identifying technological factors, user characteristics and content factors which may influence the sense of presence and learning outcomes in an educational virtual environment.
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