Among the newer and exciting technologies being used for education today is virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). For the purpose of this report we are going to focus on VR. This technology allows learners to be immersed in a virtual environment where the unique experience theoretically promotes cognitive skill development (Merchant, Goetz, Cifuentes, Keeney-Kennicutt, & Davis, 2014). According to Pantelidis (2010) the research around the applications and value of VR have been conducted since the 1980’s providing, at this point, potentially 40 years’ worth of content and materials that can be used in educational settings.

In this blog post, Jeff Clemens and Alastair Linds endeavour to report on the available content and materials available for VR technology in educational settings and whether or not the amount and characteristics constitute as Weller (2011) describes, a pedagogy of abundance” (p. 2).

Through our exploration we have found research materials available for VR education use in first hand learning is quite intensive. In this field there has been numerous studies done in how VR can be used and the efficacy in its use. The main focus seems to be primarily in the skill based education field and primarily in the medical field. The research supports the importance of instructional design and several studies have outlined instructional design elements that are imperative for successful VR learning (Merchant et al., 2014).

This fits along with the concepts explored by Weller when discussing the pedagogy of abundance. Within his work Weller discusses the economies of abundance and scarcity. These elements seem to fit well within this discussion especially when looking at some of the challenges within the introduction of VR. Zelle discusses that the costing is a larger issue in the introduction of VR which means that elements of VR that are successful in education are potentially affected by the external economies of cost.

At the time of this report, there are a two main consumer level methods of obtaining VR technology: through smartphones and through commercially available VR headsets. The smartphone options are cheaper with the main devices being  Google Cardboard ($23.07, Amazon.ca),  Google Daydream ($139, Walmart.ca), Samsung Gear VR ($139.96, Walmart.ca) with controller ($199.99, TheSource.ca) and Retrak Utopia 360 ($39.95, indigo.ca). The higher end VR headsets are far more technologically advanced capable of running larger, more graphically and process intensive software however, come with a much higher price tag. These include the HTC VIVE ($699.99, Amazon.ca), HTC VIVE Pro ($999.95, Amazon.ca), Playstation VR ($249.97, BestBuy.ca), and the Oculus Rift ($529, Amazon.ca). All of these are peripherals for other technologies which incur additional costs, especially with the VR headsets having minimum system requirements for the computers connected to them.

In this abundance of content and research it shows that there must be an exploration of the costing and how to include it in the classroom. This means that in order to use this content there must be an exploration on ensuring that the learners are able to use and utilize the technology. It is for this reason that the abundance of research may not be enough to implement this technology into education.

Weller states that a pedagogy of abundance is based on these nine assumptions: that the content is free, content is abundant, content is varied, sharing is easy, there exists a social base, connections are light, organization is cheap, content is based on a generative system, and content can be generated by users.

Content is free – although much of the content in VR education is open and therefore free to use, costs associated with the actual technology are still very expensive despite the price having lowered in the past years the capital required for the VR system and a computer powerful enough to run it still relocated to higher income earners or schools with much higher funding. As well many of the software programs are not free and the associated cost has a direct correlation with the quality of the VR software.

Content is abundant – there is a high volume of VR and AR content available online, however the current resources are heavily based on more specialised education and skills. Reports, articles, and journals on the use of VR in surgical simulations, nursing practices and if he more healthcare related fields are far more abundant than those used for pedagogical fundamentals. The software may be considered abundant, however, with the advent of the newest VR technology, there is still a lot of VR educational software currently being developed for the HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift headsets, as well as smartphone VR apps.

Content is varied – like most educational technology content, much of VR content is found in text format, however there are a number of video based VR learnings available in on YouTube and other platforms. There are also a few VR focused podcasts that features episodes around the educational applications of VR and vice versa with education podcasts reporting on VR trenda.

Sharing is easy – most articles focused on VR that are widely sharable focus on the entertainment applications of VR. The educational articles that utilize like, retweet, pins and other buttons, are fewer with the majority of the educational focuses VR articles being found on scholarly journals.

Social based – due to the cost and scarcity of the technology, the social base of VR education may be viewed as limited especially when compared to social bases of other more ubiquitous educational technologies such as learning management systems (LMS’s).

Connections are ‘light’ – connections being described as ‘light’ we could assume that the connections would only be as strong as the network itself. As previously mentioned the network might not have as large a following as other educational technologies, however a fair collective could be considered as ‘light’.

Organisation is cheap – the cost around VR technology does make the organization more expensive for those to gather and experience VR. Organization that is absent of the actual technology is as inexpensive as any other grouping of educational technology enthusiasts. Online group gatherings such as webinars can host a very large number of attendees while keeping costs minimal. In person gatherings would encour higher expenses for venues, travel etc.

Based on a generative system – with the highly complex nature of the technology, VR education would have to be developed by a programming and environment professional as well as the educational designer to help construct the learning. This severely limits the generative ability of VR technology as new software would require a high degree of specialization and knowhow.

User generated content – users would require some knowledge of coding, 3D modeling/engines such as Unity. With such time and knowledge investments the ubiquity of user generated content would be limited to those who would have a significant commitment and passion to develop learning materials and content.

If we were to use VR technology as a continuous part of education today, a specific number of needs would be required to be met to make the efficient use feasible. The VR technology is expensive and would require a robust budget to afford not just the headsets themselves, but also the computers capable of running the VR software. The instructional design would have to be well established for this level of investment and have proven positive results. Although, there are many studies regarding VR technology, the use in education is still a polarized subject.

The evaluation of VR technology in education has shown that it only fulfills some of the assumptions needed for the pedagogy of abundance. The main issues currently working against the pedagogy of abundance involve cost and level of difficulty to create content. For these assumptions to be fulfilled there will need to be overall acceptance and adoption of VR to lower the cost and increase the demand for creators.

As an instructor there would be a need to first determine how the content could be used by learners and how the accessibility and cost issues could be addressed. The issues of equipment can be solved through the use of commercial VR ventures. Companies like VRkade (https://vrkade.com/) that exist primarily for entertainment use could also potentially fill the instructional need through their facilities. By using these commercial venues this will reduce the financial strain on educational institutes while also increasing the potential economic benefits of these private facilities.

A difficulty of this introduction to education for the instructor is becoming more comfortable with the VR technology. This would likely be similar to the initial difficulties in adapting instructional design for synchronous and asynchronous delivery. This initial challenge would simply need some foresight to allow the technology to not be a barrier to the education.

References

Cooper, J. B., & Taqueti, V. R. (2008). A brief history of the development of mannequin simulators for clinical education and training. Postgraduate Medical Journal,84(997), 563-570. doi:10.1136/qshc.2004.009886

Fällman, D., Backman, A., Holmlund, K. (1999) VR in Education: An Introduction to Multisensory Constructivist Learning Environments, Universitetspedagogisk konferens, Umeå universitet, 18-19 februari

Gorman, P. J., Meier, A. H., Rawn, C., & Krummel, T. M. (2000). The future of medical education is no longer blood and guts, it is bits and bytes. The American Journal of Surgery,180(5), 353-356. doi:10.1016/s0002-9610(00)00514-6

Merchant, Z., Goetz, E. T., Cifuentes, L., Keeney-Kennicutt, W., & Davis, T. J. (2014). Effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction on students’ learning outcomes in K-12 and higher education: A meta-analysis. Computers and Education, 70, 29–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.07.033

Pantelidis, V. S. (2010). Reasons to Use Virtual Reality in Education and Training Courses and a Model to Determine When to Use Virtual Reality. Themes in Science and Technology Education, 2(1–2), 59–70.

Taxén, G., & Naeve, A. (2002). A system for exploring open issues in VR-based education. Computers & Graphics,26(4), 593-598. doi:10.1016/s0097-8493(02)00112-7

Zelle, J. M., & Figura, C. (2004). Simple, low-cost stereographics. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin,36(1), 348. doi:10.1145/1028174.971421