Implementing VR in classrooms
Kris Hsu | Master’s Candidate | Class of 2022�at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education
/ T511K Professor Chris Dede
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Introduction
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Theories of Learning
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Personal Experience
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Overall Assessment
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Works Cited
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Table of contents
How does VR fit into the educational context?
What are the theoretical and empirical frameworks?
What is Kris’s background in the VR space?
How might widespread adoption work for VR?
Special thanks.
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Introduction
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Description of the emerging technology
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This research analyzes the role of VR in classrooms, in hopes of strategizing how to bring VR and its content into school settings.
We’ll understand the educational goals and learning theories needed to create compelling VR learning experiences.
Looking to bring VR into classrooms? �Here's your guide to understanding how VR learning experiences can be integrated into classrooms.
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What is virtual reality?
Virtual reality provides sensory immersion, meaning its visual and audio stimuli (with haptic interfaces) can transport viewers into a new world. While inside of the VR headset, the viewer turns around and sees different parts of the simulated setting, just like how they would when turning their head in the real world. "The digital setting responds to maintain the illusion of presence in the setting" (Dede 2017).
When designed well, VR has the affordance to teleport you places, to let you see worlds that you've never seen before. VR reimagines the way we learn, as students gain first-hand experience of the subject they learn. You learn when you're engaged. In VR, you are not only a part of the learning process, but also gain agency in the learning process.
The VR industry has been in a state similar to the cinema when it first emerged. There is a new medium that has arisen, and the content that fills that medium is still being figured out. Specifically, how to tell stories and how to use these stories is an interest in my personal exploration. However, VR content has been shifting "from one-off, single-user simulations on shared headsets to ongoing programmatic social learning on personal headsets" (Gronstedt 2021).
In regards to bringing VR into K-12 classrooms, the classroom market has been largely untapped by VR. According to Lenovo's research in 2021, "54% of teachers would like to see virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) have more classroom presence, compared to 41% of parents who said the same" (EdTechnology).
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Educational problems VR aids
Existing educational problems persist in classroom engagement, experiential learning, and narrative-driven experiences.
VR offers the following unique affordances to aid these problems.
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Presence and immersion
Presence can also be defined as immersion, where the student in VR feels like their body is in the perceived virtual surrounding. VR creates a strong sense of presence in a virtual environment. Students in headset feel like they are at another location when they're actually standing in their classroom, living room, school lab, or bed room. For instance, one's existing classroom can become the International Space Station (ISS) with a VR experience.
With VR, virtual field trips become possible as these experiences create a new learning environment that piques students' interests.
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Engagement with agency
Students get to interact with the virtual environment, grabbing objects and moving around in the environment, that videos or text do not afford. They engage with the environment in new and realistic manners. For example, rather than seeing images of Antarctica on a book, students can take a boat through the open sea, take photos of animals, and interact with scientific tools.
If building a VR experience, objects should be interactable and have intent in their interactions.
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Directed immersive narratives
With narrative-driven instructional design, learners participate and shape the narrative (Dede 2017). Within the virtual environment, the use of narrative and symbolism creates credible, engaging situations (Dawley & Dede, 2013). To increase narrative immersion, designers can invoke emotional and intellectual scenarios where the story may feel more relevant with the viewers/students. The associative mental models create more room for relevancy to the student's life.
In a highly data driven world, anecdotes are needed to help people truly understand the stories of people in the world.
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Procedural tasks
Other-worldly virtual environments
The new media of Virtual Reality (VR) has the opportunity to enhance motivation and learning across various subjects.
VR is effective for learning procedural tasks in a 3-D space, such as operating machinery or moving through a space. "The scientific literature on this is vast, but it never found significant use in K-12 education, which tends to emphasize declarative knowledge, primarily facts and concepts" (Dede 2017).
VR should not be used to recreate existing learning environments such as labs and classrooms. Instead, leverage other-worldly virtual environments that take students to places they can't normally visualize or interact with. For science, this may be exploring insides of human bodies or outer space. For math, this may be spatializing equations and creating interactable objects. Existing VR learning experiences let students explore the International Space Station or be researchers in Antarctica.
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Theoretical & empirical framework
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for educational VR
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VR’s theories of learning & teaching
When designing VR learning experiences, it is important to consider theories of learning into the experience.
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The constructionist learning theory serves as a primary learning design consideration for educational experiences.
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Constructionist learning theory
Constructionist learning theory revolves around developing knowledge best through building artifacts (physical or digital) that can be experienced and shared (Papert, 1991). If VR learning experiences are designed with constructionist theories in mind, then students would be given tools to build their own immersive environments or are provided an immersive environment to build something within (Dede 2017).
Constructionist activities could include:
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Experiential
learning
Change the abstract into the tangible
Constructionist learning theory
Experiential brings the learning experience into authentic, relevant contexts. Learners create something they have an emotional investment in. For classroom settings, teachers must have guidance with VR and instructional strategies, understanding how the experience links to academic objectives. VR experiences also support "doing" rather than just observing (Slater 2016). While this is not a classroom example, neurosurgery training has been a common practical use case for VR.
This is particularly relevant in teaching mathematics (Slater 2016). For instance, Hwang and Hu (2013) suggest that using collaborative virtual environments have advantages for students learning geometrical concepts compared to traditional paper and pencil learning.
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VR stimulates discussion
Virtual
field trips
Exploring new �bounds of reality
Constructionist learning theory
VR tends to foster a reflective process among students (Slater 2016). Great enjoyment in interacting with the experience has also been associate with better understanding of class concepts.
If a teacher wanted to visit various geographic locations, such as Stone Henge, Antarctica, the ISS, etc., it would be infeasible to visit all. Virtual visits make explore new environments possible. No studies have shown the effectiveness of VR field trips, maybe because the effects are clearly positive.
Given the control that designers have over their VR experiences, designers can break the bounds of reality as part of exploration (Slater 2016). For instance, if someone wanted to learn how to juggle, there could be a small change in gravity to assist as discussed in Chris Dede's research (1997).
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Kolby’s experiential learning theory helps us understand how new experiences can be acquired for students.
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Kolb's experiential learning theory
Principles of instructional design must be used to effectively bring VR experiences into classrooms. Suggested by Eileen McGivney in Online Education's article, the experiential learning framework (displayed below) shows how a lesson plan with VR could be used (2021). Here, students have the opportunity to plan their learning and be introduced to a topic or questions. Then, VR is the experience itself. After the experience, students can reflect on what they experienced.
In Kolb's experiential learning theory, Kolb states that learning involves the acquisition of abstract concepts. The main way to learn new concepts is by new experiences.
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"Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience" �(Kolb 1984)
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Kolb's experiential learning theory
To break down Kolb's experiential learning style theory in the context of a student, �as described by McLeod (2017):
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Kolb's experiential learning theory
With VR, the VR experience serves as the (1) concrete experience. Students can then reflect and learn based off this experience.
Effective learning happens when the student goes through all 4 stages of (1) having an experience, followed by (2) observation and reflection of the experience, then (3) the formation of new ideas about the experience, and then (4) testing the new learnings in new situations, which ultimately circles back to new experiences. A learner can enter the learning cycle at any stage and they all mutually support each other, feeding into the next (McLeod 2017).
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Specific to education, what remains to be discovered in order for VR to make an impact in classroom settings?
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To make an impact in classrooms, we must
Foster Diverse Creators
Design with stakeholders, not just for them
Incorporate VR into existing curriculum / activities
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To make an impact in classrooms, we must
Foster diverse creators
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Problem: In an OnlineEducation article, Eileen McGivney mentions how "it’s really important to include the populations you want to reach in the design of the technology and experiences themselves." (Toczauer 2021). VR content has been created by American, white, typically male creators.
Solution: If we wanted to account for the cultural differences that VR experiences could address, especially in education, we'll need to diversify the creators. As seen with the experiential learning framework in Section 2, students will bring their unique identities and experiences into the VR experiences. Having more diverse creators can design and deploy content that feels more relevant to various cultures.
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To make an impact in classrooms, we must
Design with stakeholders, not just for them
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Problem: In regards to distribution, VR may be too quickly deployed into classrooms. Too often, the focus persists in solely getting VR headsets into classrooms. This can cause for it to be misapplied and misused.
Solution: Rather, the focus should be on "developing the technology with diverse teams who bring expertise in the technology and learning design, and include the various communities who will use it" (Toczauer 2021). Teachers and students need to be a part of the design process.
In addition, technical teams are needed to create the hardware and software. Designers need to understand the educational goals and the students needs in using the VR experience. Instructional designers and teachers can cater the content to their classrooms and to their existing curriculum.
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To make an impact in classrooms, we must
Incorporate VR into existing curriculum / activities
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Problem: As Eileen McGivney mentions, VR is not always the best for teaching content knowledge (Toczauer 2021). Content knowledge is better learned through text or video. In addition, an entire class time and lesson should not incorporate VR given the comfortability and eye strain problems VR may induce.
Solution: VR experiences can be a chunk of the hour long class time, so students are not in headset for the entire class time. VR can be used as a supplementary activity in classrooms, similar to how laptops and other hands-on mediums are used to teach lessons. In regards to the content, the design of the VR content can be more exploratory, where students have increased agency in the environment. It is this exploratory phase in the existing curriculum that helps with learning.
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Personal experience with VR
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Kris’s VR experience before & during
Harvard’s Graduate School of Education
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I design and produce narrative-driven VR experiences,�with educational goals in mind.
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Directing & Producing 'Seeing is Learning VR'
with Stanford University
I created an immersive learning experience for Stanford University’s Rural Education Action Program (REAP), an applied social science research group at Stanford’s Institute for International Studies. REAP is a research center that measures the impact of social interventions on underprivileged communities in rural China. One of their studies in particular showed both a huge unmet need for vision care services among rural children that were myopic, and the large impact that vision correction had on student test scores. Knowing from their research that the lack of awareness about vision care was an important barrier to education, I created a VR experience whereby the viewer learned about the social and academic effects of nearsightedness.
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Producing 'The Tale of the Tibetan Nomad', �an award-winning VR short film
A viewer embodies a student who is struggling to see the blackboard and keep up in class. To accomplish my goal, I took a learner-focused approach and designed a culturally relevant experience for our target audience: parents and teachers in rural China. I traveled to a remote village in Shaanxi, China where I interviewed key figures in the community that would inform the design of the experience. To evoke a sense of belonging for the target viewers, I directed a class of 30 students plus their teacher at a rural school in China to “star” in the VR experience. Through a familiar classroom setting with familiar faces, viewers were thus able to learn about the need for vision care in their communities.
Most importantly, their passageway to learning was through a relevant and emotional story. This specially designed VR experience is now available at rural vision care centers in China, serving rural students as the staff use it to show patients the importance of vision care.
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Now in the Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology (LDIT) program,
I am researching how to create narrative-driven VR experiences, grounded in education, backed by learning theories & curriculum design.
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Key learnings from LDIT
Alongside my courses, I've also been working with Project Zero's Next Level Lab, researching how virtual reality experiences can teach STEM concepts to high school students. Read more about this research here
Harvard's VR/AR Association also invited me as a keynote speaker, where I talked about my experience and 3 key principles of design for educational, story-driven VR experiences. Watch the talk here
Initially, my personal goal was to first-hand study how students interact with narrative driven, educational VR experiences, and use my learnings to inform my own content.
However, now I've realized that educational VR experiences cannot be designed with fellow VR designers. Instead, they need to be designed with the teachers and curriculum specialists.
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By combining my past immersive content creation skills with newfound knowledge from Harvard' Next Level Lab, I'm proposing a proof of concept idea that aids teachers in bringing VR into their classrooms.
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VR Curriculum Library
Leading Question
How might we work alongside teachers to bring VR into their classrooms and their curriculums?
Context
Students, educators, and life long learners have a wide, existing catalog of educational VR content to explore. While this plethora of educational VR content exists, many people struggle to find the right experience that fits within classroom time and curriculum standards. VR's use in classroom settings is limited due to the infrastructure of classrooms, where teacher performance is focused on teaching the curriculum and assessing the students' performance via assessment scores.
Problem
A key problem exists in integrating VR experiences into classroom curriculums. Teachers want their classroom time to be productive and efficient for their curriculum.
The Solution
Imagine a library of educational VR content that curates existing educational VR experiences, but, more importantly, shares the detailed plans on how to integrate the VR content into a classroom curriculum. The library not only curates the top educational content, but also provides a clear plan on what curriculum standard it addresses and provides a short lesson plan revolving around the VR content and your curriculum
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VR Curriculum Library
For this pitch, I would propose a digital platform in VR that has a library of curated VR content, where each experience is paired with a detailed lesson plan that integrates it into the school curriculum standards.
For example, the National Geographic: Antarctica Explorer VR experience may be on the platform. This experience created by Nat Geo lets users step into the shoes of a field scientist, gathering research in Antarctica. Upon selecting this VR experience, the teacher not only can play the VR experience, but the teacher also gets a lesson plan with activities surrounding Antarctica ecosystems, and writing problem statements (relevant to the school's engineering curriculum standard). Teachers may also receive a quiz or activity for the teacher to assess student performance.
Each curated VR experience addresses a curriculum standard and comes with a lesson plan for the teacher to easily integrate it into their existing curriculum.
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VR Curriculum Library
Points of distribution for this platform:
Classrooms - If teachers had VR headsets in their classroom, then they could easily find a VR experience and instantly know how to integrate the VR experience into their lesson plan with our curated library.
At home - Parents and students at home can access the platform and easily find content to watch. The content would serve as supplementary study
Location-based VR centers - In the long run after the library is fully built out. Students could go into a location based center (such as a VR arcade) and watch VR content.
Sources of inspiration include:
Netflix - for its wide library of content
Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) - for its community of teachers, designing lesson plans for each other to use
Magic School Bus - for students getting virtual field trips for school concepts they're passionate about
Potential pain points for this platform:
Teachers still need additional professional development to train them on how to use the VR headsets
The district level needs to provide funding to purchase 30+ headsets for students to use
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Assessment of the technology
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Strengths of VR technology
Sensory immersion - Head-mounted or room-sized displays can create sensory immersion to deepen the effect of psychological immersion. In addition, VR can induce virtual presence (place illusion), the feeling that you are at a location in the virtual world (Dede 2017)
Making the impossible possible - VR can create interactions and activities that aren't possible in the real world. They can take risks and openly explore in the virtual environment. For virtual field trips, VR breaks down geographical boundaries and students visit places far outside their classroom.
Remote presence - Students can use VR to collaborate with others. Platforms like Engage can let people chat and work together with their real-time virtual avatars interacting.
Contextualized learning - Students can visit an artifact in the community or environment it belongs in. Steve Bambury from VR Focus compares AR to VR, saying "AR app may allow students to bring a Greek statue into the classroom but a VR app like Athenian Acropolis contextualizes the learning by allowing the student to actually view the same statue in Ancient Greece" (2019).
Students may be inspired to create their own content
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Limits of VR technology
A technology on the rise - The headsets were designed for your average white male American, meaning the headset doesn't accommodate to every student's features.
Classroom concerns - Students' safety may be a concern. For one, they need extra physical space (at least 6 feet by 6 feet square) to freely roam in the virtual environment. In addition, students audio and visual abilities for the real world are blocked, so they become unaware of the real world environment.
Extra professional development for teachers - In order for teachers to use VR in class, they must also be trained on the technology. With a new technology, there may also be more technical difficulties to overcome.
Creates high expenditures - To create VR experiences, it's expensive to design and develop VR experiences filled with high quality graphics and high interactibility. It's important to have well designed experiences that also reduce motion sickness. Using headsets comes at a high cost where each VR headset is around $300. Implementing VR headsets and experiences requires massive funding and may lead to educational inequalities depending on district budgets.
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Likely impact of VR technology
VR will impact educational spaces if the experiences are designed with high quality, diverse teams that understand learning theories and classroom settings. Moreover, these experiences will be even more powerful if they incorporate storytelling, where emotional charged narratives increase attention and engagement.
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Likely impact of VR technology
First, there must be an understanding of course curriculums. The VR experience will directly address these curriculum standards. This way, teachers and principals will know that the content and virtual environments support their classroom learning goals.
Secondly, the teachers will need professional development, so they can learn how to navigate VR and troubleshoot technical difficulties. This will require time from VR companies to train them and also require willingness from teachers. In order to convince these teachers, they need to understand the value VR has for their curriculum standards and for their student's motivation to learn.
Finally, the implementation of VR experiences into lessons should use principles of instructional design (Toczauer 2021). The experiential learning framework uses VR as the key experience the lesson revolves around, where students go through the experience then discuss and reflect around it.
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Conclusion
To achieve the above, the goal should not be on getting VR headsets into classrooms. Rather, the goal is to:
At the end of the day, VR and its content must be implemented with (and not just solely for) the students, stakeholders, and communities.
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Works cited
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Works Cited
Bambury, S. (2019, October 29). 10 key benefits of VR in Education. VRFocus. Retrieved December 14, 2021, from https://www.vrfocus.com/2019/03/10-key-benefits-of-vr-in-education/
Dawley, L. and Dede, C. (2013) Situated Learning in Virtual Worlds and Immersive Simulations. In: Spector, J.M., Merrill, M.D., Elen, J. and Bishop, M.J., Eds., Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, New York, Springer, 723-734.
Dede, C., Salzman, M., Loftin, R. B., and Ash, K. (1997). Using Virtual Reality Technology to Convey Abstract Scientific Concepts [Online]. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.136.4289&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Dede, C., Jacobson, J., & Richards, J. (2017). Introduction: Virtual, augmented, and mixed realities in education. In D. Liu, C. Dede, R. Huang, & J. Richards, (Eds.). Virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality in education, pp. 1-18. Hong Kong: Springer.
Gronstedt, A., MA Maha Alkhatib, & Haden, R. (2021, November 29). Get ready for the metaverse of VR learning. Main. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://www.td.org/atd-blog/get-ready-for-the-metaverse-of-vr-learning
Hwang, W.-Y., and Hu, S.-S. (2013). Analysis of peer learning behaviors using multiple representations in virtual reality and their impacts on geometry problem solving. Comput. Educ. 62, 308–319. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2012.10.005
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
McLeod, S. A. (2017, October 24). Kolb - learning styles. Simply Psychology.www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html
Papert, S. (1991). Situating constructionism. In I. Harel & S. Papert (Eds.), Constructionism: Research reports and essays, 1985–1990 (pp. 1–11). Norwood, NJ: Ablex
Toczauer, C., & McGivney, E. (2021, November 19). Learning in digital worlds: The future of VR in Education. Learning in Digital Worlds: The Future of VR in Education. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://www.onlineeducation.com/features/virtual-reality-and-student-learning
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Thanks
Do you have any questions?�krishsu@gse.harvard.edu�krishsu.com�www.linkedin.com/in/krishsu
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