DESIGNING A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING VIRTUAL REALITY LEARNING EXPERIENCES: THE VR AFFORDANCES EVALUATION TOOL (VR-AET)

The application of virtual reality (VR) as a teaching tool has the potential to transform the practices of active and experiential learning in the geosciences by immersing students in engaging content. The geoscience learning community has the opportunity to harness advancements in VR to create immersive environmental experiences which supplement fieldwork and promote inclusive learning. Development of VR for geoscience educational spaces will require an understanding of the myriad affordances and technologies needed to support effective learning outcomes. To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no classification system broadly used by educators to characterize and compare the affordances of a VR experience in a general way. Such a system is needed if we are to interpret and generalize the VR affordances which support cognitive, affective, psychomotor, behavioral, and technological attributes needed to produce them. To aid in understanding and characterizing these affordances, we have generated an evaluation tool, the VR Affordances Evaluation Tool (VR-AET), to compare VR experiences, visualize their characteristics, and assist educators in selecting appropriate experiences that address their desired learning outcomes.

The VR-AET categorizes experiences based on three major elements: presence, interactivity, and accessibility. Presence is delineated as a sense of being in a virtual environment and is measured by spatial awareness, inquisitiveness, and cognition of a user within the experience. Interactivity is defined as the extent to which users can participate, navigate, and modify their actions within a virtual world. The degree of interactivity within a virtual environment is resolved using topics such as ergonomics, modes of projection, and cognitive load. Accessibility is prescribed as the overall usability of a VR experience and is influenced by differentiability, pedagogical validity, and technology. The elements of VR experiences included in this tool were drawn from a literature review crossing the fields of psychology, instructional technology, geoscience education, and computer science. A spider chart is used to conceptually frame the degree to which each variable is represented in a given VR experience and compare different geoscience educational VR systems. The VR-AET system will provide a medium for geoscience educators and professionals to leverage when implementing VR applications as an instructional modality.