The Promise of VR in Online Education

Andrew Peterson, Interim Executive Director for Online Learning, Ferris State University

The first time I experienced a VR environment was in the back of a coffee shop in the early 1990s. There was a full arcade box to sit in and play Duke Nukem 3D. After shelling out $10, you could play for five minutes. I happily paid my money and experienced a dark, dingy, lag filled “game” that made me want to hurl. I mentally shelved the idea of VR as some futuristic thing that we’d get to eventually.

Fast forward 20 years. The hardware is faster, graphics are better, games are more realistic, and VR is progressing nicely. I can now setup a high-end computer, a couple of base stations, don a corded headset, and have a pretty nice VR experience. With setup and collaboration, even my parents can shoot orcs using a virtual longbow in the middle of the living room while having a fun time doing so. There’s no way they would be able to do this without some guidance, but they can appreciate the experience.

Fast forward another ten years and we now have standalone hardware that takes about five minutes of orientation to be able to learn the basics. It’s finally time for education to embrace VR for education. The last couple of years have brought us wonderful terms like ‘Zoom fatigue’ through the overused and often hurried (if at all) design of online learning environments. I think it is time to reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and what we should try going forward.

Students (and faculty) often enjoy the convenience of online learning. Yet, through informal conversations you’ll often hear faculty vent about talking to a sea of “broken” webcams on Zoom. Students might lament a fully automated online “class” that’s little more than videos and multiple-choice tests. Multi-user VR environments seem to offer that blend of what everyone is looking for. I don’t really want to put on pants and drive to a campus, find a parking spot, and walk to a room so I can talk to people for 90 minutes twice a week. Likewise, I don’t want to have to login minutes before the 11:59 Sunday night deadline and post on a discussion board (and remembering to reply to at least two other students).

“Educational VR environments offer unique benefits over current traditional online environments. As a dedicated and immersive environment, attention from attendees is more likely.”

Let’s be honest.If this is a mandatory synchronous Zoom session, my camera is off, and I have 17 other tabs open in my browser. If you want to be optimistic, I’m doing other work/school email. If you want to be realistic, I’m toggling between Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter, but I’m totally “listening” and participating as the shared screen progresses through a PowerPoint presentation. I mean, it’s being recorded, right? I can go back and watch it later if I need to. I’m not present. I have educational background noise on. Even if my camera is on, that just means I need to remember to not pick my nose and smile and nod a little more often. The competition for my attention is too high.

Educational VR environments offer unique benefits over current traditional online environments. As a dedicated and immersive environment, attention from attendees is more likely. Students will even have a harder time checking their phone with a headset on. (Although I should know better than to limit students’ creativity when finding ways to constantly check their social media of choice.) Likewise, it’s not like they are sitting in front of their computer (the greatest entertainment device humans have ever invented) and consistently distracted.

The VR environment is likely to encourage attention. It will also offer exclusive opportunities to display visual and immersive content. What I love most is that this medium layers digital content on top of a traditional, discussion-based platform. If people want small group breakout sessions, they can move to different areas of the VR space and their conversation is isolated to the avatars in their proximity.

It really is the best of both worlds. 

Entertainment