A structural equation modeling investigation of the emotional value of immersive virtual reality in education

Virtual reality (VR) is projected to play an important role in education by increasing student engagement and motivation. However, little is known about the impact and utility of immersive VR for administering e-learning tools, or the underlying mechanisms that impact learners’ emotional processes while learning. This paper explores whether differences exist with regard to using either immersive or desktop VR to administer a virtual science learning simulation. We also investigate how the level of immersion impacts perceived learning outcomes using structural equation modeling. The sample consisted of 104 university students (39 females). Significantly higher scores were obtained on 11 of the 13 variables investigated using the immersive VR version of the simulation, with the largest differences occurring with regard to presence and motivation. Furthermore, we identified a model with two general paths by which immersion in VR impacts perceived learning outcomes. Specifically, we discovered an affective path in which immersion predicted presence and positive emotions, and a cognitive path in which immersion fostered a positive cognitive value of the task in line with the control value theory of achievement emotions.     

Comparing video and virtual reality as tools for fostering interest and self-efficacy in classroom management: Results of a pre-registered experiment

Video is a widely used medium in teacher training for situating student teachers in classroom scenarios. Although the emerging technology of virtual reality (VR) provides similar, and arguably more powerful, capabilities for immersing teachers in lifelike situations, its benefits and risks relative to video formats have received little attention in the research to date. The current study used a randomized pretest–posttest experimental design to examine the influence of a video- versus VR-based task on changing situational interest and self-efficacy in classroom management. Results from 49 student teachers revealed that the VR simulation led to higher increments in self-reported triggered interest and self-efficacy in classroom management, but also invoked higher extraneous cognitive load than a video viewing task. We discussed the implications of these results for pre-service teacher education and the design of VR environments for professional training purposes.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Video is a popular teacher training medium given its ability to display classroom situations.
• Virtual reality (VR) also immerses users in lifelike situations and has gained popularity in recent years.
• Situational interest and self-efficacy in classroom management is vital for student teachers' professional development.

What this paper adds

• VR outperforms video in promoting student teachers' triggered interest in classroom management.
• Student teachers felt more efficacious in classroom management after participating in VR.
• VR also invoked higher extraneous cognitive load than the video.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• VR provides an authentic teacher training environment for classroom management.
• The design of the VR training environment needs to ensure a low extraneous cognitive load.

     

虚拟现实技术教学效用模型建构与实效验证

虚拟现实(Virtual Reality,VR)技术因在交互性、沉浸性和认知性方面具有独特优势而被认为是一种能够促进教育教学发展的新型手段,但是,VR技术在教学中发挥效用的内在机制还有待深入考证。教学效用是衡量技术能否发挥教学效果及其程度的指标,具体包括学习参与、教学效率和教学效果三个维度。结合VR的技术优势和教学效用维度、经由理论演绎建构的基于VR技术的教学效用模型(VR-E3Model),聚焦于研究VR的交互过程、沉浸过程和认知过程三方面效用。其中,影响交互性效用的因素包括软件因素、硬件因素、感知有用性、感知易用性、行为意向、学习者特征等;影响沉浸性效用的因素包括感知、交互感、沉浸感、临场感等;影响认知性效用的因素包括情绪信息、知识建构、认知发展等。经过实证研究检验表明,该模型具有较好的理论解释力;VR技术产生教学效用的首因要素是教师的教学行为意向;VR技术因软硬件的差异,会为使用者带来不同的交互体验;学校在配置VR设备时应从教学需求和成本投入两个维度进行综合考量。     

Adding immersive virtual reality to a science lab simulation causes more presence but less learning

Virtual reality (VR) is predicted to create a paradigm shift in education and training, but there is little empirical evidence of its educational value. The main objectives of this study were to determine the consequences of adding immersive VR to virtual learning simulations, and to investigate whether the principles of multimedia learning generalize to immersive VR. Furthermore, electroencephalogram (EEG) was used to obtain a direct measure of cognitive processing during learning. A sample of 52 university students participated in a 2 × 2 experimental cross-panel design wherein students learned from a science simulation via a desktop display (PC) or a head-mounted display (VR); and the simulations contained on-screen text or on-screen text with narration. Across both text versions, students reported being more present in the VR condition (d = 1.30); but they learned less (d = 0.80), and had significantly higher cognitive load based on the EEG measure (d = 0.59). In spite of its motivating properties (as reflected in presence ratings), learning science in VR may overload and distract the learner (as reflected in EEG measures of cognitive load), resulting in less opportunity to build learning outcomes (as reflected in poorer learning outcome test performance).     

Deconstructing the skills training debate in doctoral education

The pressure being placed on universities to deliver skills training for the workplace has generated considerable debate. This paper deconstructs the broader employability discourse in which the debate is embedded in order to draw out its formative implications for skills training during candidature. The paper argues against erection of a deficiency model in the context of skills training of higher degree research (HDR) students, and that the employability discourse is essentially reductive. It obscures whole areas of HDR knowledge production, thus skewing skills training towards the perceived needs of science students; the significant contribution made by research education developers to skills training of HDR students; and employer responsibility for workplace skills training. Notions of skills transferability, best practice and embedding are all shown to be problematic in that they lack discriminative power. Finally, the paper demonstrates that HDR students do value skills training at the institutional level despite prevailing uncertainty.     

Exploring learner acceptance of the use of virtual reality in medical education: a case study of desktop and projection-based display systems

Advanced technologies have been widely applied in medical education, including human-patient simulators, immersive virtual reality Cave Automatic Virtual Environment systems, and video conferencing. Evaluating learner acceptance of such virtual reality (VR) learning environments is a critical issue for ensuring that such technologies are used to greatest effect. This research describes the use of high performance real-time interactive software (VR4MAX) to build a prototype 3D VR learning system. A questionnaire survey was distributed to 167 university students to investigate learner attitudes toward learning via VR applications. Experimental results show that immersion and imagination features of VR-mediated course contents have a positive impact on perceived usefulness, and can also predict perceived ease of use, both of which contributors to behavioral intention of learners to use VR learning systems. Overall, this research validates the relationship between three features of VR and learners' behavioral intention to use VR learning. The results could prove helpful in guiding future research related to VR learning.     

虚拟现实技术在中职实训教学中的应用

近年来,随着我国中等职业教育的快速发展,如何更好地培养适应社会生产需要、有较强实践能力的应用型人才成为当前突出的问题。然而,教育实践环节面临的安全环境难以搭建、设备及教师数量不足等问题严重影响了教学效果,进而阻碍中职教育的发展。虚拟现实技术具有沉浸性、交互性和想象性等特点,为解决上述问题提供了契机。针对当前虚拟现实技术在中职实训教学中的应用,提出做好传统实操课模式与虚拟现实搭建操作环境的结合互容,搭建企业、中职、虚拟现实研发三方合作平台等建议,并对未来在VR基础上融合使用AR、MR、XR等新技术的创新教学方法作出展望。     

Competency-based training and beyond: action research and reflective practice in vocational education and training

This article [1] analyses data from a national research project evaluating the contribution of competency-based training (CBT) to outcomes in vocational education and training (VET) in Australia. In the light of this analysis, it is argued that practitioners have an important and developing role as practitioner-researchers in industry settings, engaging in reflective practice and, indeed, in forms of action research. Moreover, it is argued that CBT provides opportunities for practitioners to develop and incorporate different models of education and training, often alongside the ‘standard’ CBT model for the benefit of trainees and the enterprises in which they work. Some implications for VET policy, practice and practitioner education are explored.     

Reassessing training programs: A model for identifying training excesses and deficiencies

Needs assessments are traditionally based on an optimals-actuals deficiency model that is utilized before instruction is implemented. However, in some cases an existing training program may be reassessed to determine what training needs still exist. These situations could benefit from an excess-based model, where the assessment effort is designed to identify instructional excesses as well as deficiencies. This article explains the theory and procedures for an innovative needs reassessment approach, the CODE system. The article also provides some empirical data on the potential value of the CODE process for decisions about the reallocation of instructional resources in existing training programs. Two exploratory studies were conducted that provide evidence of the validity of the CODE system: (a) a needs reassessment of a corporate training program, and (b) a medical training program reassessment.     

A review of the use of virtual reality head-mounted displays in education and training

In the light of substantial improvements to the quality and availability of virtual reality (VR) hardware seen since 2013, this review seeks to update our knowledge about the use of head-mounted displays (HMDs) in education and training. Following a comprehensive search 21 documents reporting on experimental studies were identified, quality assessed, and analysed. The quality assessment shows that the study quality was below average according to the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument, especially for the studies that were designed as user evaluations of educational VR products. The review identified a number of situations where HMDs are useful for skills acquisition. These include cognitive skills related to remembering and understanding spatial and visual information and knowledge; psychomotor skills related to head-movement, such as visual scanning or observational skills; and affective skills related to controlling your emotional response to stressful or difficult situations. Outside of these situations the HMDs had no advantage when compared to less immersive technologies or traditional instruction and in some cases even proved counterproductive because of widespread cybersickness, technological challenges, or because the immersive experience distracted from the learning task.     

Research and the training of primary teachers

Elementary education is an ideal field for educational research, not only because of the special difficulties that are inherent in it—such as the problem of communication with the children and resistance to change on the part of the teachers—but also because the advance of knowledge is bound up with the revision of its foundations and because a child's early training has a vital influence on the subsequent development of his mental powers and particular talents. Research into elementary education is rendered still more valuable and urgent by two additional factors: changes in the child's family and social status, and advances in the sciences which shed light on the various aspects of those changes. Research at this educational level—important, urgent, but also difficult—promises to be rewarding and the results should lead to considerable changes in teacher training. However, the author is not concerned with this aspect; he is trying to examine to what extent an introduction to educational research and participation in it should be included in teacher training, and how this can be done. Nevertheless, the close relationship thus established between such research and training also implies that we are concerned with training as a subject of research. Raymond Lallez, Director of the Centre for Research and Training at the école Normale Supérieure in Saint-Cloud and a member of the French National Commission for Unesco, worked in child psychology at the University of Montpellier before becoming an adviser to the Minister of National Education of Cambodia. He has taught at several universities in the United States and is currentlyrapporteur for the National Centre of Scientific Research, in addition to his other functions in French national educational planning.     

Virtual Reality Training Environments: Contexts and Concerns

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is a rapidly developing medium for training, entertainment and education. As yet little research exists into the efficacy of VR systems. Because of the current high cost of VR training systems, careful consideration should be given to their use. This article will discuss contexts where VR might be appropriate, present advantages and disadvantages of VR as a training technology, and present a case study of a VR training environment, used at the NASA Johnson Space Center in preparation for the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope.     

Evaluating virtual reality and augmented reality training for industrial maintenance and assembly tasks

The current study evaluated the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) platforms, developed within the scope of the SKILLS Integrated Project, for industrial maintenance and assembly (IMA) tasks training. VR and AR systems are now widely regarded as promising training platforms for complex and highly demanding IMA tasks. However, there is a need to empirically evaluate their efficiency and effectiveness compared to traditional training methods. Forty expert technicians were randomly assigned to four training groups in an electronic actuator assembly task: VR (training with the VR platform twice), Control-VR (watching a filmed demonstration twice), AR (training with the AR platform once), and Control-AR (training with the real actuator and the aid of a filmed demonstration once). A post-training test evaluated performance in the real task. Results demonstrate that, in general, the VR and AR training groups required longer training time compared to the Control-VR and Control-AR groups, respectively. There were fewer unsolved errors in the AR group compared to the Control-AR group, and no significant differences in final performance between the VR and Control-VR groups, probably due to a ceiling effect created by the use of two training trials in the selected task for participants who were expert technicians. The results suggest that use of the AR platform for training IMA tasks should be encouraged and use of the VR platform for that purpose should be further evaluated.     

The cognitive approach to training development: A practitioner's assessment

This article begins this special issue of ETR&D-Development by discussing what the cognitive approach to instructional design (ID) is and how ID practitioners can design training differently using the approach. Following some introductory comments about purpose, scope and perspective, the article is in two parts. The first part describes why the cognitive approach to ID is important and how the current approach to instructional design and training development is different from the cognitive approach. It then explains how learning occurs according to the cognitive point of view, and the different categories of learning according to one type of cognitive psychology. The second part describes a model that synthesizes and summarizes the components of a well-designed lesson, and describes what is different about this model from the current approach to ID. This model relates what learners have to do to learn to what instructional designers have to do to help them do so. It presents and briefly explains and exemplifies a general framework for instructional design based on cognitive psychology. Finally, it presents a table that can be used as a job aid to design training.     

In pursuit of quality: early childhood qualifications and training policy

This paper aims to critique policy discourses around the pursuit of quality in early years education. Taking England as a focal point, it problematizes the use of the term ‘quality’ and attempts to standardise its meaning; highlighting the disconnect that exists between policy and practice. The paper combines discourse analysis of a small number of key government documents with a series of interviews with early years stakeholders in order to identify issues that will have resonance and can inform a much needed continuation of debates about what quality might mean. Over the course of the research it became apparent that there was considerable disquiet amongst early years practitioners with regards the current qualifications and training landscape, particularly with regards to what many viewed as ideologically-driven policy-making, not informed by proper dialogue with the sector.     

Television as a training and educational medium

Summary and Conclusions An attempt was made to summarize the implications of television research to date upon the training or educational use of the medium. The instructional and administrative advantages of television were discussed with respect to their potential teaching applications. In addition, research findings on instructor and student requirements and subject matter selection for television teaching were developed. Finally, the importance of testing and developing test-measurement procedures adapted to television was emphasized. There is general agreement that television has a promising future both for military and civilian training and education. There are many important areas of research and evaluation which remain to be explored. But research to date has already uncovered information and methods which permit both military and civilian users to bridge the gap between television research and its application to many everyday instructional and educational situations. This paper summarizes the implications of TV research upon training and education. It draws particularly from the authors’ own studies in the military use of TV. Joseph H. Kanner is Chief of the Training Section, Television Branch, Army Pictorial Service Division, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, U. S. Army. Richard P. Runyon and Otello Desiderato are research psychologists with the Pictorial Evaluation Office, Signal Corps Pictorial Center, Long Island City, New York.     

打开教育的另一扇门——教育元宇宙的应用、挑战与展望

元宇宙是一种整合多种新技术的互联网未来新形态,其与教育领域相结合具有巨大的潜力。文章首先指出元宇宙是一个不断发展、演变的概念,而教育元宇宙具有交互性、沉浸性、多元性三个核心特征,并介绍了教育元宇宙的六大底层支撑技术及应用场景。然后,文章从学科教育、非正式学习、职业培训等领域的案例入手,介绍了以VR/AR学习环境为代表的教育元宇宙当前的发展状况。最后,文章分析了教育元宇宙面临的问题与挑战,并针对教育元宇宙初期的发展从机制、技术、教学三个方面提出建议。教育元宇宙为研究教育系统的复杂性和教育的发生发展规律打开了另一扇大门,而研究其应用、挑战与展望为教育元宇宙的发展指明了方向,注入了动力。     

The training of adult education personnel in Botswana

The article provides a case study from Africa on the issues involved in training adult education personnel. It describes the social and organisational context of adult education in Botswana as the background to a discussion of training needs. A quantification of full-time adult education posts is presented to give an indication of the scope of these needs. The provision of training is then analysed in terms of four different types — initial, middle-level, advanced and inservice. The need for more systematisation and co-ordination is identified and a central role for the University is suggested. The content and methods of training are considered and the central question of the impact of training raised. It is argued that the effectiveness of training must be assessed by a three dimensional analysis which situates the personal competence of the adult educator within an organisational and socio-economic context. Finally, research and evaluation are advocated as essential in two respects. Firstly, in order to develop the knowledge-base about the theory and practice of adult education in Botswana on which to provide the content of courses. Secondly, in order to analyse the training programmes themselves. The article concludes by suggesting a framework for the future development of training for adult educators in Botswana.     

Digital technology and caregiver training for older persons: Cognitive and affective perspectives

ABSTRACT

This research project included two studies that investigated (a) differences between technology use in tech-knowledgeable and less tech-knowledgeable older persons, (b) cognitive and affective variables and their association with the application of technology, and (c) the implications of these variables on the design of remote-delivered caregiver education. Study 1 findings suggested that high technology (e.g., Internet delivered education) reduced stress among the tech-knowledgeable group. In Study 2, which focused on the less tech-knowledgeable group, neither high technology (e.g., telehealth-delivered education) nor low technology (e.g., phone-delivered education) was associated with the cognitive and affective measures used in the study. Implications in the training of older caregivers with digital technology are discussed for negotiating the affective and cognitive features in remote delivered caregiver eduational protocols.     

Impact of training on change in practice for education assistants in a group of international private schools in Hong Kong

This paper reports research that evaluated the efficacy of training for education assistants and its impact upon changing practices in a group of private international schools in Hong Kong, China. Two cohorts of education assistants received training through an education institute. The focus was on supporting and fostering inclusive practices in schools. The expectations and perceptions of the education assistants regarding the training was recorded through survey and focus group interviews and discussed alongside international literature in the area of classroom support and inclusive schooling. The paper concludes that the provision of training was successful in meeting education assistants’ expectations and in increasing personal confidence and raising self‐esteem, but that they face many challenges if their learning is to be applied. The research further reveals that education assistants within Hong Kong schools lack clarity in their role and a narrow understanding of how they may be most appropriately utilised within schools has led to a limiting of their deployment. Implications for training providers and the teaching profession are discussed.