Failure Stories and Surprising Findings: Learning from When VR Did Not Work

It is easy to assume that virtual reality will naturally lead to improved learning outcomes, as there is a tendency to view VR, as an exciting new technology, as a “silver bullet” that can dramatically enhance learning. However, several research studies reveal surprising or counter-intuitive findings – for example, when low-immersion media led to better learning outcomes than VR. We provide a systematic review and discuss specific cases in which results were not as expected. Factors that adversely affect learning include novelty effects, VR sickness, low interaction fidelity, cognitive overload, or other environmental or classroom factors. Through this study, we argue that designers and educators can avoid pitfalls by studying the times when VR did not work as expected. We also provide recommendations based upon these findings. In this way, we can gain insights on how to actually obtain desirable outcomes from the new technology.