A Study of Class Meetings in VR: Student Experiences of Attending Lectures and of Giving a Project Presentation

Abstract

We study student experiences of social VR for remote instruction, with students attending class from home. The study evaluates student experiences when: (1) viewing remote lectures with VR headsets, (2) viewing with desktop displays, (3) presenting with VR headsets, and (4) reflecting on several weeks of VR-based class attendance. Students rated factors such as presence, social presence, simulator sickness, communication methods, avatar and application features, and tradeoffs with other remote approaches. Headset-based viewing and presenting produced higher presence than desktop viewing, but had less-clear impact on overall experience and on most social presence measures. We observed higher attentional allocation scores for headset-based presenting than for both viewing methods. For headset VR, there were strong negative correlations between simulator sickness (primarily reported as general discomfort) and ratings of co-presence, overall experience, and some other factors. This suggests that comfortable users experienced substantial benefits of headset viewing and presenting, but others did not. Based on the type of virtual environment, student ratings, and comments, reported discomfort appears related to physical ergonomic factors or technical problems. Desktop VR appears to be a good alternative for uncomfortable students, and students report that they prefer a mix of headset and desktop viewing. We additionally provide insight from students and a teacher about possible improvements for VR class technology, and we summarize student opinions comparing viewing and presenting in VR to other remote class technologies.

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“…This close resemblance matches the findings by Ginkel et al (2019) who measured similar skill improvement in an oral presentation training in VR as in a physical environment. But as similarly shown by Yoshimura and Borst (2021), the satisfaction with VR presentations also depended for our participants on the (dis)comfort with the equipment. Short and interactive talks can benefit more from VR than long or many presentations.…”

“…Concerning educational purposes, a literature review explored interactions relevant in social xReality (XR) learning spaces and provides an overview (Scavarelli et al, 2021). For example, a study by Yoshimura and Borst (2021) reports on class meetings that were experienced in VR comparing access with a head-mounted display (HMD) and in desktop mode. The students attended lectures and presented in VR.…”

Could Virtual Reality be the Next Approach for International Students Learning Maltese?

“…In particular, teachers might play virtual games with students or use the Google Expeditions application to organise virtual expeditions (Cardullo & Wang, 2022). In accordance with Yoshimura and Borst (2021), another advantage of VR is that it makes lessons memorable, and students are highly likely to remember new L2 words (Yoshimura & Borst, 2021).…”

“…Moreover, VR provides a fully immersive environment where students can move, interact, and experience a social and cultural environment where an L2 is spoken (Dewaele et al, 2019;Garduno, Martinez & Castro, 2021;Liu et al, 2020). This kind of fun effect makes language lessons memorable; and therefore, students are highly likely to better remember new material (Yoshimura & Borst, 2021).…”

Virtual Reality Methods

“…Other researchers examining the educational potential of social VR take the more cost-effective approach of using existing platforms. Yoshimura and Borst (2021), for example, taught a course in Mozilla Hubs and then asked their students for feedback on how well it worked. They emphasise that those students who did not get simulator sickness found the sense of presence particularly useful, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic prohibiting conventional faceto-face teaching.…”