Is Virtual Reality the Future of Learning? A Critical Reflection

Abstract

The year 2016 marks the so-called second wave of VR, which was initiated by the first consumer VR-HMD, Oculus Rift (development kit), entering the market. There are four practical advantages in the field of virtual reality learning: a shift from abstract to tangible settings, interactivity rather than passive observations, using desirable but practically infeasible methods, and breaking the bounds of reality. In contrast, current VR technologies also feature certain limitations. The most common negative factor is motion sickness, which distracts the user. We conducted a multiple case study and invited 41 people to participate in two different scenarios. One was a self-developed 360° video and the other was a selfdeveloped interactive scenario. We investigate different barriers which hamper individual learning in VR and we point out that there is a potential for implicit learning in virtual reality.

Agency and Body Ownership in Immersive Virtual Reality Environments: A Laboratory Study

“…For instance, a Leap Motion would sense the hand of a user by a camera or a Manus VR glove uses integrated sensors within the glove to trigger finger and hand movements. Moreover, we suppose in accordance with existing literature [43,44,46,51], the perception of the virtual body as the own one will be increased by the stronger feeling of naturalness.…”

“…Overall, current VR technologies using HMDs aim at different research fields in order to enhance learning outcomes [e.g. 24,33,39,44,53], for better entertainments [47], or to improve healthcare solutions [e.g. 7,13,26,35,36].…”

“…virtual learning environments such as implicit learning [24,33,39,44] or healthcare outcomes such as surgery training and visualizations of human bodies [7,26,35,36].…”

Research on the design of panoramic virtual learning environment screen elements

“…Third, panoramic video in education and teaching has shortcomings. For example, Schwarze A found that panoramic video viewing equipment may cause motion sickness in learners, which prevents learners from focusing on the learning content ( Schwarze et al, 2019 ). The overly realistic and complex scenes in panoramic videos may distract learners’ attention to irrelevant content, leading them to be lost in the scenes, decreasing their interest in learning, decreasing their positive learning experience, and increasing their cognitive load, which ultimately reduces learners’ learning efficiency and affects their learning results ( Rong-Huai and Yang-JunY, 2012 ).…”