Percepciones del estudiantado de Bachillerato sobre uso de Realidad Virtual Inmersiva para la educación científica

En este estudio analizamos las percepciones de estudiantes de Bachillerato respecto a la Realidad Virtual Inmersiva (RVI) desde las dimensiones educativa, social y de accesibilidad. A través de la aplicación de un cuestionario diseñado para este propósito, validado por expertos y aplicado a una muestra de 41 estudiantes de un IES de Granada, se describen las percepciones de los estudiantes frente al uso de la tecnología de RVI desde las tres dimensiones que propone el instrumento. Por medio de un análisis estadístico descriptivo se establece que los estudiantes valoran positivamente el uso de tecnología como recurso educativo, conciben la RVI como un recurso lúdico social, pero del cual no cuentan ni tienen pensado comprar. Finalmente, concluimos que perciben la RVI como una tecnología favorable en el ámbito de la educación científica, a la vez que consideran de que se trata de una tecnología aun costosa y de difícil acceso.In this study we analyze the perceptions of high school students concerning Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) from educational, social and accessibility dimensions. Through the application of a questionnaire designed for this purpose, validated by experts, and applied to a sample of 41 students from a public school in Granada, we describe the perceptions of students regarding the use of IVR technology from the three dimensions proposed by the instrument. By a descriptive statistical analysis, it is established that students value positively the use of technology as an educational resource, also, they conceive IVR as a social recreational resource, but they don't have it and don't plan to buy it. Finally, we conclude that they perceive IVR as a favorable technology in the field of science education, while at the same time they consider that it is a technology that is still expensive and difficult to access.Departamento de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales (Universidad de Granada)Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-UGR)Grupo de Investigación HUM613 (Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales y de la Sostenibilidad)Departamento de Didáctica de la Expresión Musical, Plástica y Corporal (Universidad de Granada)Becas Chile – Subdirección capital humano- ANID

Equivalence of using a desktop virtual reality science simulation at home and in class

The use of virtual laboratories is growing as companies and educational institutions try to expand their reach, cut costs, increase student understanding, and provide more accessible hands on training for future scientists. Many new higher education initiatives outsource lab activities so students now perform them online in a virtual environment rather than in a classroom setting, thereby saving time and money while increasing accessibility. In this paper we explored whether the learning and motivational outcomes of interacting with a desktop virtual reality (VR) science lab simulation on the internet at home are equivalent to interacting with the same simulation in class with teacher supervision. A sample of 112 (76 female) university biology students participated in a between-subjects experimental design, in which participants learned at home or in class from the same virtual laboratory simulation on the topic of microbiology. The home and classroom groups did not differ significantly on post-test learning outcome scores, or on self-report measures of intrinsic motivation or self-efficacy. Furthermore, these conclusions remained after accounting for prior knowledge or goal orientation. In conclusion, the results indicate that virtual simulations are learning activities that students can engage in just as effectively outside of the classroom environment

Understanding how demographic factors influence faculty member's perceptions of online learning success: A case study in Thai private higher education

This research study investigates the influence of demographic factors, including gender, position, and year of experience on perceptions of online learning success during the pandemic. The study acknowledges that various factors, such as prior experience with online learning, technological literacy, and cultural context, influenced the perception of human resources towards online learning. The study will utilize a quantitative research approach with surveys and statistical analysis to gather and analyze data from executives managing education programs in Thai private higher education institutions. The participants in the study were executives managing education programs working in Thai private higher education institutions, including deans, vice deans, assistant deans, heads of departments, assistants to department heads, and full-time lecturers. A sample group of 213 participants will be selected using simple random sampling. Data will be collected through surveys distributed electronically to the selected participants. The survey will consist of a validated questionnaire with good content validity and reliability. Quantitative research methods will be employed to analyze the gathered data, including multivariate statistics (ANOVA), to interpret the findings. The research findings from this study will contribute to the existing literature on online learning effectiveness by examining the role of demographic factors in shaping perceptions of success in the context of the pandemic. The findings have practical implications for educational institutions in designing and implementing online learning programs during the pandemic and beyond, considering the demographic characteristics of their participants. The study suggests that institutions should consider the effects of gender, position, and year of experience in shaping perceptions and behaviours related to online learning, provide targeted support, foster collaboration and knowledge sharing, conduct ongoing research and evaluation, and adopt a multi-dimensional approach to enhance the effectiveness of online learning initiatives. Further study and contextual considerations are necessary to understand demographic factors' effects on online learning perceptions comprehensively

Inclusion in Virtual Reality Technology: A Scoping Review

Despite the significant growth in virtual reality applications and research, the notion of inclusion in virtual reality is not well studied. Inclusion refers to the active involvement of different groups of people in the adoption, use, design, and development of VR technology and applications. In this review, we provide a scoping analysis of existing virtual reality research literature about inclusion. We categorize the literature based on target group into ability, gender, and age, followed by those that study community-based design of VR experiences. In the latter group, we focus mainly on Indigenous Peoples as a clearer and more important example. We also briefly review the approaches to model and consider the role of users in technology adoption and design as a background for inclusion studies. We identify a series of generic barriers and research gaps and some specific ones for each group, resulting in suggested directions for future research

A game theoretical model for a collaborative e-learning platform on privacy awareness

De nos jours, avec l'utilisation croissante des technologies numériques, l'éducation à la préservation de la vie privée joue un rôle important en particulier pour les adolescents. Bien que plusieurs plateformes d'apprentissage en ligne à la sensibilisation à la vie privée aient été mises en œuvre, elles sont généralement basées sur des techniques traditionnelles d'apprentissage. Plus particulièrement, ces plateformes ne permettent pas aux étudiants de coopérer et de partager leurs connaissances afin d’améliorer leur apprentissage ensemble. En d'autres termes, elles manquent d'interactions élève-élève. Des recherches récentes sur les méthodes d'apprentissage montrent que la collaboration entre élèves peut entraîner de meilleurs résultats d'apprentissage par rapport à d'autres approches. De plus, le domaine de la vie privée étant fortement lié à la vie sociale des adolescents, il est préférable de fournir un environnement d'apprentissage collaboratif où l’on peut enseigner la préservation de la vie privée, et en même temps, permettre aux étudiants de partager leurs connaissances. Il serait souhaitable que ces derniers puissent interagir les uns avec les autres, résoudre des questionnaires en collaboration et discuter de problèmes et de situations de confidentialité. À cet effet, ce travail propose « Teens-online », une plateforme d'apprentissage en ligne collaborative pour la sensibilisation à la vie privée. Le programme d'études fourni dans cette plateforme est basé sur le Référentiel de formation des élèves à la protection des données personnelles. De plus, la plateforme proposée est équipée d'un mécanisme d'appariement de partenaires basé sur la théorie des jeux. Ce mécanisme garantit un appariement élève-élève stable en fonction des besoins de l'élève (comportement et / ou connaissances). Ainsi, des avantages mutuels seront obtenus en minimisant les chances de coopérer avec des pairs incompatibles. Les résultats expérimentaux montrent que l'utilité moyenne obtenue en appliquant l'algorithme proposé est beaucoup plus élevée que celle obtenue en utilisant d'autres mécanismes d'appariement. Les résultats suggèrent qu'en adoptant l'approche proposée, chaque élève peut être jumelé avec des partenaires optimaux, qui obtiennent également en retour des résultats d'apprentissage plus élevés.Nowadays, with the increasing use of digital technologies, especially for teenagers, privacy education plays an important role in their lives. While several e-learning platforms for privacy awareness training have been implemented, they are typically based on traditional learning techniques. In particular, these platforms do not allow students to cooperate and share knowledge with each other in order to achieve mutual benefits and improve learning outcomes. In other words, they lack student-student interaction. Recent research on learning methods shows that the collaboration among students can result in better learning outcomes compared to other learning approaches. Motivated by the above-mentioned facts, and since privacy domain is strongly linked to the social lives of teens, there is a pressing need for providing a collaborative learning platform for teaching privacy, and at the same time, allows students to share knowledge, interact with each other, solve quizzes collaboratively, and discuss privacy issues and situations. For this purpose, this work proposes “Teens-online”, a collaborative e-learning platform for privacy awareness. The curriculum provided in this platform is based on the Personal Data Protection Competency Framework for School Students. Moreover, the proposed platform is equipped with a partner-matching mechanism based on matching game theory. This mechanism guarantees a stable student-student matching according to a student's need (behavior and/or knowledge). Thus, mutual benefits will be attained by minimizing the chances of cooperating with incompatible students. Experimental results show that the average learning-related utility obtained by applying the proposed partner-matching algorithm is much higher than the average utility obtained using other matching mechanisms. The results also suggest that by adopting the proposed approach, each student can be paired with their optimal partners, which in turn helps them reach their highest learning outcomes

Diverse approaches to learning with immersive Virtual Reality identified from a systematic review

To investigate how learning in immersive Virtual Reality was designed in contemporary educational studies, this systematic literature review identified nine design features and analysed 219 empirical studies on the designs of learning activities with immersive Virtual Reality. Overall, the technological features for physical presence were more readily implemented and investigated than pedagogical features for learning engagement. Further analysis with k-means clustering revealed five approaches with varying levels of interactivity and openness in learning tasks, from watching virtual worlds passively to responding to personalised prompts. Such differences in the design appeared to stem from different practical and educational priorities, such as accessibility, interactivity, and engagement. This review highlights the diversity in the learning task designs in immersive Virtual Reality and illustrates how researchers are navigating practical and educational concerns. We recommend future empirical studies recognise the different approaches and priorities when designing and evaluating learning with immersive Virtual Reality. We also recommend that future systematic reviews investigate immersive Virtual Reality-based learning not only by learning topics or learner demographics, but also by task designs and learning experiences

Diverse approaches to learning with immersive Virtual Reality identified from a systematic review

To investigate how learning in immersive Virtual Reality was designed in contemporary educational studies, this systematic literature review identified nine design features and analysed 219 empirical studies on the designs of learning activities with immersive Virtual Reality. Overall, the technological features for physical presence were more readily implemented and investigated than pedagogical features for learning engagement. Further analysis with k-means clustering revealed five approaches with varying levels of interactivity and openness in learning tasks, from watching virtual worlds passively to responding to personalised prompts. Such differences in the design appeared to stem from different practical and educational priorities, such as accessibility, interactivity, and engagement. This review highlights the diversity in the learning task designs in immersive Virtual Reality and illustrates how researchers are navigating practical and educational concerns. We recommend future empirical studies recognise the different approaches and priorities when designing and evaluating learning with immersive Virtual Reality. We also recommend that future systematic reviews investigate immersive Virtual Reality-based learning not only by learning topics or learner demographics, but also by task designs and learning experiences