Low tech-barrier virtual reality content creation for cultural heritage education: learning outcomes and pedagogy

Abstract

Aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, virtual reality (VR) content creation helps novice learners better understand about cultural heritage, yet its pedagogical potential remains under-explored. Synthesising the literature, this study developed a multidimensional framework of learning outcomes in the interdisciplinary domain of cultural heritage education. Based on the principles of designing maker activities, this study designed a novel, research-informed and low tech-barrier pedagogical approach of VR content creation. Applying it to a general education course on digitising cultural heritage, the authors analysed instructor-given, rubric-referenced performance scores and qualitatively examined reflections from 302 undergraduate students of diverse disciplinary backgrounds. Results have shown that the maker activity of VR content creation outperformed other traditional learning approaches in terms of students’ learning outcome achievement. Based on empirical evidence, this study verified the learning outcome framework, yielded the corresponding pedagogical implications and laid the groundwork for future studies on VR-based maker activities.</p