Understanding Learning and Learning Experience in Immersive Virtual Reality

There is a pervasive belief that immersive virtual reality (imVR) holds transformative implications for almost all technology-mediated human activities, including the sphere of education. Given this context, it becomes essential to comprehend the impact it exerts on learning, in addition to ascertaining whether it positively affects factors that enhance the learning experience of users. Consequently, a research study was conducted to compare learning outcomes resulting from the use of an imVR application vis-à-vis outcomes procured from web pages and a desktop virtual reality (dVR) application. Additionally, contributory factors to the learning experience were juxtaposed. The research set comprised 103 university students interacting with tailor-made applications presenting ancient Greek inventions, facilitated via head-mounted displays (the imVR condition) and personal computers (for dVR and web pages conditions). Evidence suggested that learning in the imVR environment outperformed only web pages. However, in several factors that were theorized to have an impact on one’s learning experience, imVR surpassed both the other two media. The broader implications of these findings also form a part of the subsequent discourse.