Mobile Virtual Reality in Secondary Education: An Exploratory Study in the Course of Biology
Niki Niittymäki, Athanasios Christopoulos, Mikko‐Jussi Laakso · 2021
The integration of Virtual Reality (VR) in education has shown positive results on learners' engagement and outcomes. Nonetheless, such studies are usually conducted in controlled laboratory environments which have been set up to provide optimal experiences. Even though the outcomes of these works provide useful insights, they also raise serious questions about their validity and applicability in the actual classroom context. Under this consideration, we performed an empirical study in which the potential of an affordable mobile-VR solution was explored in the context of a Biology course (upper secondary education). The experiment lasted for three weeks during which different topics were explored and investigated. Participants' ($n=35$) perception toward VR and knowledge advancement were monitored during the whole course of the study with the key findings suggesting that mobile-VR can provide an affordable yet diverse learning experience. In this work we highlight the benefits as well as the limitations/shortcomings of this method on the basis of which we provide researchers, educators, and (educational) developers recommendations related to the benefits and shortcomings of this approach. Finally, considering the current circumstances and the ‘new norms’ (i.e., remote teaching) exploring the potential of this method in distance learning contexts is highly advisable.