From traditional to digital: The impact of drones and virtual reality technologies on educational models in the post-epidemic era

Abstract

Employment of various innovative tools for education in the post-epidemic era is an urgent issue of improving the quality and efficiency of education and the relevance of educational material. The study aims to investigate the impact of the use of drones and virtual reality in educational models of student learning in the post-pandemic period. The study was conducted using a quantitative method, a sociological survey, a pedagogical experiment, and mathematical processing of the results. The study involved fourth-year students (n=748) studying in the following specialties: geography and ecology (n=119), engineering, robotics (n=135), architecture and urban planning (n=120), agriculture, agronomy (n=118), information technology (IT) (n=139), journalism (n=117), and teachers (n=258) with more than 5 years of experience. For the educational process of students of each specialty, the scope of application of drones and virtual reality has been developed. Classes with the use of drones and virtual reality were held two times a week for one academic semester. Afterward, students were interviewed using an adapted questionnaire to study their attitudes toward virtual reality technologies and drones for learning. Students of all specialties positively evaluated various aspects of the use of drones and virtual reality in their educational process. The use of drones helps to improve student engagement and visual attention and has a positive impact on learning efficiency and student satisfaction with the learning process. Teachers approve of the use of drones and virtual reality in teaching but point out that further development of the methodology for training stakeholders in the educational process, infrastructure, improvement of curricula, and consideration of various aspects of technology use is needed to effectively implement drones and virtual reality in the learning process. The practical significance of this study is to present aspects of the use of drones in teaching students of certain specialties and to study the impact of the effectiveness of the use of these technologies on the opinions of students and teachers.

The Effect of Drones in the Educational Process: A Systematic Review

“…Their research explored attitudes toward and concerns about construction among 11 middle school students enrolled in a summer youth camp at Michigan Technological University (Figure 3). Similar findings were also reported in Lu et al [29] about their use (Figure 5). Table 3 displays the findings about the type of drones used.…”

“…According to the included studies, we gathered data from n = 12 studies from the year 2015 to 2023. The research protocols of the included studies were allocated to several locations including n = 4 from Greece [25][26][27][28], n = 1 from Thailand [29], n = 1 from China [30], n = 1 Taiwan [12], n = 1 South Korea [31], n = 1 Croatia [32], n = 1 USA [33], n = 1 Brazil [34], and n = 1 non-specified [35]. For the children, adolescents, and adults examined, we collected data from n = 994 subjects ranging from 3rd grade to university students and graduates [12,25,26,31,[33][34][35].…”

“…For the children, adolescents, and adults examined, we collected data from n = 994 subjects ranging from 3rd grade to university students and graduates [12,25,26,31,[33][34][35]. For the teachers' or educators' performance, perception, or point of view, we collected data from n = 509 subjects, including different academic positions from school to university [27][28][29][30]. According to the characteristics of the population of children, adolescents, and adult students, we observe that in most of the studies males and females were examined, the only exception being Lee et al [31], who examined only male subjects.…”

“…Finally, about the authors' methodology, most of them utilized a mixed method of collecting quantitative and qualitative data for analysis. Most of them used the questionnaire method to collect data about the perceptions of students [12,25,31,32] and teachers/educators/professors [27][28][29][30].…”

Geography Interactive Learning Media Based on the Articulate Storyline 3 Application to Improve Learning Outcomes in Senior High School

“…Teachers provide their assessments as a result of evaluations and respond positively to various aspects of media use in their learning. The use of Articulate Storyline 3 helps increase student engagement and visual attention and has a positive impact on learning efficiency and student satisfaction with the learning process (Lu et al, 2023). The teachers think that the use of Articulate Storyline 3 in teaching is very important but for its perfection, it still requires specific improvements in further development of the methodology for training teachers in learning.…”