Virtual Reality in Education

I read the article, "An application of virtual reality in education: Can this technology enhance the quality of students’ learning experience?" by Enda McGoverna, Gerardo Moreiraa , and Cuauhtemoc Luna-Nevarezb which aimed to explore whether the use of Virtual Reality (VR) can enhance student learning. Their study focused on preparing university students to give speeches by practicing with VR technology. They discovered that VR has great potential for educational use to enhance student's ability to present information. 

The article used Sherman and Craig's (2002, p.16) definition of VR. It says, "VR can be defined as “a medium composed of interactive computer simulations that sense the participant’s position and actions and replace or augment the feedback to one or more senses, giving the feeling of being mentally immersed or present in the simulation (a virtual world)." University students could choose settings within the application to change the location and the amount of people in the audience to present to. The VR technology tracked their gesture, talking speed and eye contact and gave participants an evaluation at the end. 

While I think that VR itself is computational thinking, I don't think this use of VR necessarily encourages computational thinking in students. Instead, it takes the role of a teacher - offering real time feedback and advice to make students more successful. 

I feel that this could be a useful tool in a middle or high school library. There are many students who are anxious to give speeches and presentations. Perhaps having the opportunity to practice with VR would help lower their anxiety and be more successful. If I had these in my school library, I would have a small set that could be borrowed by teachers to support their specific units. 

The use of Virtual Reality for practicing public speaking would support the Communication core competency because it helps students learn how to communicate their ideas strongly with their audience. Additionally, it would also support the Personal and Social competency by equipping students with confidence and real life skills to engage with others. By overcoming a task that is difficult, students could build a greater sense of identity and feel confident to share their learning with others. 

How do you see Virtual Reality supporting student learning?


References

Luna-Nevarezb C., McGoverna, E., & Moreiraa, G. (2020). An application of virtual reality in education: Can this technology enhance the quality of students’ learning experience?. JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, VOL. 95, NO. 7, 490–496. https://web-s-ebscohost-com.proxy.queensu.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=fe160899-bd0b-4210-b843-d7c17786e664%40redis



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