Extended Reality in Higher Education - Merits and Perils

Dr. Angel Schols, Community Manager, Technology Experiment Center, Dr. Hanneke Theelen, Senior Researcher, Research group Professionalising Education, Dr. Kim Dirkx, Policy Advisor Blended Learning, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences

Dr. Angel Schols, Community Manager, Technology Experiment Center, Dr. Hanneke Theelen, Senior Researcher, Research group Professionalising Education, Dr. Kim Dirkx, Policy Advisor Blended Learning, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences

Extended Reality (XR) to foster authentic learning

Authentic learning experiences are very important for effective blended learning (Theelen & van Breukelen, 2022). These experiences can be created by using real-life engaging tasks, videos, or cases that resemble the actual professional context. For example, a law student working on a legal file concerning an inheritance or a physiotherapy student preparing a treatment plan for a patient with back problems. However, it is not always easy to create authentic learning activities and simulate real-life situations in educational settings. As a result, students often experience a gap between the theoretical lessons they learn at university and the actual working field. This can lead to stress, anxiety, and early dropout because students feel ill-prepared for real-life professional situations (Cheong & Wong, 2021; Theelen, van den Beemt, & den Brok, 2022). Moreover, students may not be prepared adequately for high-risk situations, because they were unable to sufficiently practice certain skills in a relatively safe educational environment. Voss and Kunter (2019) speak of the so-called practice gap which can negatively affect motivation and study success.

“Students often experience a gap between the theoretical lessons they learn at university and the actual working field. This can lead to stress, anxiety, and early dropout because students feel ill-prepared for real-life professional situations.”

XR is a very promising technology to simulate real-life, authentic situations from the professional context and is therefore increasingly used in higher education. Extended reality is a universal term that is used to refer to immersive learning technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). XR training creates a simulated learning environment wherein learners can complete realistic interactions with virtual, augmented, or real objects and people. Additionally, extended reality provides the opportunity to practice high-risk skills in a safe environment. By using XR, real-life situations, that otherwise may have been out of reach, can be simulated in a setting in which teachers have control over what students learn. In addition, practice in XR can easily be personalized to the learning needs of the student which has a positive effect on motivation and learning (Cheong, & Wong, 2021).

Examples of Extended Reality experiences at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences

At our university, an increasing number of lecturers are experimenting with XR technology to simulate authentic learning experiences. For example, the law faculty created a VR experience for prospective students in which they participated in a courtroom discussion. This experience gave these prospective students a fairly authentic experience of their future profession as a lawyer and may help them to make better-informed study programme decisions. Another example is the use of XR in midwifery education, in which students need to perform several episiotomies to become certified as a professional midwife. However, during their internships students often lack opportunities to perform this skill. The midwifery department is therefore developing an XR assessment of this skill, wherein the challenges of haptic feedback to authentically simulate this skill are taken into account. Also, the faculties of nursing and facility management are exploring the possibilities of XR in education. The department of nursing, for example, is exploring VR opportunities in the field of communication skills and clinical reasoning for advanced care planning and acute clinical situations. The faculty of facility management is developing 360-degree immersive videos to practice observational skills. This way students can practice observing locations, for example the technical installation room of different sorts of buildings, without having to re-visit these locations.

Considerations when using XR in higher education

Although the interest and use of XR in educational contexts are rapidly increasing, there are several challenges that should be taken into consideration when exploring and implementing XR in education. First, developing XR applications for education is very expensive, as is purchasing readily available XR applications developed by third parties. Second, even though lecturers see many opportunities to include XR in classroom instructions, as well as self-study, it is puzzling how to effectively include XR in educational programs. Third, the infrastructure to facilitate the use of XR in educational settings is often still lacking. The absence of a sufficiently organized storage, maintenance, and reservation system for XR glasses, for example, is causing substantial extra work and stress for lecturers. The absence of a centrally organized infrastructure also leads to insufficient attention and control with regard to privacy (GDPR) and cyber security issues when using these new technological solutions.

For example, when lecturers use public platforms like YouTube to play 360-degree videos, the privacy of students cannot always be guaranteed. In addition, a substantial amount of privacy-sensitive data is gathered with XR, for example when using eye trackers, but the infrastructure to securely store these data is not always known to teachers. Finally, even though technology is getting more and more advanced, some students may experience dizziness, nausea, and / or a sense of disorientation. Better equipment, more experience, and better quality of the XR environment may decrease those problems.

Despite all these challenges, the opportunities for XR in education are numerous. Careful consideration of how to safely use XR in education, a centrally organized infrastructure, and blended integration in education can ultimately contribute to reducing the so-called practice gap between education and the future working field of students.