Back

1. Brief Description:  Virtual reality (VR) is a variation of Motion Visuals  which places the learner in an immersive, simulated environment through the use of specially designed and programmed goggles.  In VR, everything the user sees is computer generated.  An extremely powerful tool in education when properly integrated into the curriculum, it can allow users to visualize three dimensional concepts, abstract ideas, and physically impossible images in a low-risk, interactive environment.

Class of media: Instructional aid

Characteristics: Motion visual

2. Standards and Goals: (when, how and where to use for instructional meaningful connections, how would this be used in the real world):  Virtual reality is best used as an educational aid to augment curriculum where the manipulation of three dimensional representations is essential for understanding or where the risk or cost of an experiment or activity is too great and other simulations would be ineffective.  A VR simulation of designed components and their interaction may safe significant costs and reduce failures by eliminating the use of materials for initial testing and showing the results of poor quality materials before the first piece is even cut.  VR can also stimulate interest in learning through direct interaction with the environment like taking a walk along and through the Great Wall of China or disassembling a strand of DNA.  The key to remember is that the technology must be appropriate for the curriculum and an essential element to the learning.

3. Application to types of learning:

       a. Cognitive objectives: (Prior knowledge, reading ability, vocabulary levels):   Like most motion visuals, VR tends to be most effective for learners with limited prior knowledge as significant prior knowledge of the topic may interfere with the effectiveness of the motion visual based on the learners’ preexisting understanding of the subject matter.  Like video, VR can be used to teach recognition and/or discrimination of relevant motion stimuli but in an interactive manner rather than strict observation.  The interactive nature can also provide immediate feedback to students concerning task performance, component fit and operation, or reactions of items in a safe environment (like a chemical reaction in a simulated lab).  Reading ability has little impact on virtual reality unless the learner has hearing impairments which require the reading of embedded text.  Vocabulary levels used in the media should be appropriate for the education level of the learner.

       b. Psychomotor objectives: (interpretive movement, physical and perceptual abilities):  Required psychomotor skills to watch virtual reality simulations will vary depending on the programming and simulation used.  If the simulation requires only observation, there are no psychomotor requirements other than head movement.  If motion and interaction are part of the simulation, the appropriate psychomotor skills for the task will be needed and should be closely monitored by the instructor for signs of disorientation.  In advanced VR simulations it can be a beneficial medium to visually demonstrate interpretive movement or physical abilities/processes through direct interaction.  Perceptual abilities will be key to proper understanding of displayed content.  Visually impaired students may not be able to participate in VR demonstrations depending on the severity of their impairment.

       c. Affective objectives:(senses, what attentive needs and abilities, value/emotion requirement, motivation to learn):
Advanced VR simulations can be beneficial when content is meant to raise awareness of cultural understanding or to insight emotions to spark conversation by inserting the learner directly into cultural or complex scenarios where their action, or inaction, prompts a response within the environment.

4. Strengths:  As apposed to still visuals or video, VR allows the learner to directly interact with their learning environment and strengthen connections through the interaction, visual, and audio stimuli.  Other strengths include

1. Risk-Free Observation – Potentially dangerous processes can be conducted without the risk of injury due to the simulated environment.
2. Dramatization – Learners can interact with historical figures, witness events, or work within visualizations that would not be possible, such as the elements of an atom.
3. Affective Learning – Like other motion visuals, the emotional impact of virtual reality can help shape attitudes, both personal and social.
4. Problem Solving – The interactive nature can allow learners to discover possible solutions and alternatives in complex or dangerous scenarios without the risk of injury or use of raw materials.
5. Cultural Understanding – The ability to see how other cultures live and interact from a near-first hand perspective can build understanding and appreciation for other value systems.   (Smaldino, Lowther, & Mims, 2018)
6. Material Cost Reductions – When simulating lab experiments, manufacturing or assembly processes, or equipment failure causes, learners can interact with and repeat the experiments as often as necessary without consuming the raw materials normally associated with the process (Burkett & Smith, 2016).

5. Limitations:  While the direct interaction with the learning environment can increase student interest and learning based on the constructivist mindset, there are also significant limitations which must be considered before employing virtual reality in a learning environment:

1. Isolation – Excessive use of VR may lead to isolation from peers and the conceptual impact of an incorrect belief that the virtual reality is what is to be learned vice the tool for learning  (Fernandez, 2017).
2. Integration – It is essential that the technology be integrated with a focus on the curriculum and the student or it may waste time, effort, and funding.
3. Disorientation – Some learners have experienced disorientation and vertigo after use of VR equipment (Tepe, Kaleci, & Tuzun, 2018).  When working with learners with autism, ADHD, or traumatic brain injuries, caution must be used to prevent overwhelming the student or triggering unintended responses (Jeffs, 2009).
4. Cost and Equipment – Producing virtual reality environments as well as the required equipment to view and interact in them may require substantial investment on the part of the developer, school, or teacher.  These costs must be weighed heavily to ensure the motion visuals are appropriate for the topic and any identified advantage is worth the expense (Bergeron, 2019).

6. Special Features/Creative ideas:  Virtual reality has the ability to show entire processes, provide vivid imagery of distant locations in a “walk-through” format, and can help learners conceptualize abstract ideas through the animation of components and visualization of items that are impossible to see in the real world, such as forces acting on an object or subatomic particle motion.  VR can also allow learners to repeat experiments multiple times to ensure comprehension without the cost and waste of additional raw materials.  By combining aspects like real life items/people, animated characters or representations, audio feedback, and interactive features, designers can build a captivating learning tool which will enhance the instructor’s content.

7. UDL/ Accessibility requirements:  One of the advantages of VR is that the instructor has complete control of the virtual environment and can limit distractors, customize training to the specific learner, and control sensory inputs and outputs which is a significant advantage when working with learners with impairments such as autism, ADHD, or traumatic brain injuries (Jeffs, 2009).

Vary the methods for response and navigation

To provide equal opportunity for interaction with learning experiences, an instructor must ensure that there are multiple means for navigation and control is accessible.

• Provide alternatives in the requirements for rate, timing, speed, and range of motor action required to interact with instructional materials, physical manipulatives, and technologies
• Provide alternatives for physically responding or indicating selections (e.g., alternatives to marking with pen and pencil, alternatives to mouse control)
• Provide alternatives for physically interacting with materials by hand, voice, single switch, joystick, keyboard, or adapted keyboard

Significant numbers of learners with disabilities have to use Assistive Technologies for navigation, interaction, and composition on a regular basis. It is critical that instructional technologies and curricula do not impose inadvertent barriers to the use of these assistive technologies. An important design consideration, for example, is to ensure that there are keyboard commands for any mouse action so that learners can use common assistive technologies that depend upon those commands. It is also important, however, to ensure that making a lesson physically accessible does not inadvertently remove its challenge to learning.

• Provide alternate keyboard commands for mouse action
• Build switch and scanning options for increased independent access and keyboard alternatives
• Provide access to alternative keyboards
• Customize overlays for touch screens and keyboards
• Select software that works seamlessly with keyboard alternatives and alt keys

8. Technology Resources/websites:

ARCore, Tilt Brush, A-Frame, Amazon Sumerian

9. Examples of virtual reality:

Virtual Reality:   https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/mit-k12/eng-and-electronics/v/mit-explains-how-does-virtual-reality-work

Accessibility for VR for those with visual and hearing impairments: https://arpost.co/2018/09/18/inclusivity-of-vr-and-ar-accessibility-for-the-visually-and-hearing-impaired/

10. References:

Bergeron, C. (2019, April 9).  Re:  Motion Visuals [Online course wiki page comments].  Retrieved from  https://cyberactive.bellevue.edu/ultra/courses/_483792_1/cl/outline

Burkett, V. C., & Smith, C. (2016). Simulated vs. hands-on laboratory position paper. Electronic Journal of Science Education, 20(9), 8-24. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1188061.pdf

Fernandez, M. (2017). Augmented virtual reality: How to improve education systems. Higher Learning Research Communications, 7(1), 1-15. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?q=EJ1150087

Jeffs, T. L., (2009). Virtual reality and special needs. Themes in Science and Technology Education, 2(1-2), 253-268. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1131319.pdf

Smaldino, S. E., Lowther, D. L., & Mims, C. (2018). Instructional technology and media for learning (12th ed, pp178-186). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Tepe, T., Kaleci, D., & Tuzun, H. (2018). Integration of virtual reality fire drill application into authentic learning environments. World Journal on Educational Technology: Current Issues. 10(4), 72–78. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1193796.pdf

CAST (2018).  Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org