Exploring User Perceptions of Virtual Reality Scene Design in Metaverse Learning Environments

Metaverse learning environments allow for a seamless and intuitive transition between activities compared to Virtual Reality (VR) learning environments, due to their interconnected design. The design of VR scenes is important for creating effective learning experiences in the Metaverse. However, there is limited research on the impact of different design elements on user's learning experiences in VR scenes. To address this, a study was conducted with 16 participants who interacted with two VR scenes, each with varying design elements such as style, color, texture, object, and background, while watching a short tutorial. Participant rankings of the scenes for learning were obtained using a seven-point Likert scale, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used to validate differences in preference between the scenes. The results showed a significant difference in preference between the scenes. Further analysis using the NASA TLX questionnaire was conducted to examine the impact of this difference on cognitive load, and participant feedback was also considered. The study emphasizes the importance of careful VR scene design to improve the user's learning experience.Comment: 6 pages,3 figures, accepted to present at IEEE 42nd International Conference on Consumer Electronic

Social Comparisons in the Classroom Revisited: Insights Into Underlying Processes Using Immersive Virtual Reality as a Research Tool

Social comparisons are commonplace in every classroom and widely acknowledged as central determinants of students’ academic self-evaluations (see, e.g., Dijkstra et al., 2008; Trautwein & Möller, 2016). Most prominently, in educational psychology research, social comparisons have been assumed to be the cause behind the well-known Big-Fish-Little-Pond effect (BFLPE; Marsh, 1987), suggesting negative effects of higher class-average (or school-average) achievement on students’ academic self-concept while controlling for individual achievement. Whereas existing research has provided compelling evidence of the effects of certain reference groups on students’ self-evaluations (Marsh et al., 2017; Marsh & Seaton, 2015), the actual mechanisms behind the proposed effects and how students process social information while learning are still a black box. The present dissertation was aimed at gaining insights into the respective underlying processes (i.e., the “inner workings” of this black box) by using immersive virtual reality (IVR) as a research tool. IVR technology provides an unprecedent opportunity for educational psychology research to integrate ecological validity and experimental control in research designs to gain authentic and yet standardized insights into classroom processes, such as social comparisons and beyond (see, e.g., Blascovich et al., 2002). To this end, the present dissertation was aimed at a theoretical as well as a methodological advancement of research on social comparisons in the classroom. To address these objectives, the dissertation drew on three empirical studies with an IVR classroom including an experimental manipulation of classmates’ performance-related behavior. First, pursuing a more in-depth theoretical understanding of social comparisons and the respective processing of social information in the classroom, the dissertation aimed to identify covert and overt social comparison behaviors that (a) reflect students’ cognitive and behavioral responses to social comparison information in an IVR classroom and (b) ultimately explain individual differences in students’ self-concepts. Studies 1 and 2 used students’ self-reports (of their interpretation of classmates’ performance-related behavior) and eye movement data (e.g., visual attention on classmates) to identify different social comparison processes in the IVR classroom and to provide insights into the mechanisms that underlie the BFLPE. Second, aiming to provide insights into how IVR classrooms can be used as an experimental tool in educational psychology research, Study 3 focused on the configuration of an IVR classroom to authentically simulate and control a (social) classroom environment. The study provides insights into how different fields of view, virtual avatar visualization styles and virtual classmates’ performance-related behaviors affect students’ processing of social information provided in the IVR classroom. Taken together, by using an IVR classroom as an experimentally controlled yet authentic research setting, the present dissertation was able to advance the theoretical understanding of social comparisons and respective processing of social information in the classroom that ultimately explain individual differences in students’ self-concept. Moreover, the present dissertation demonstrates how IVR classrooms and the corresponding standardized process data can be used to gain insights into classroom processes, such as social comparisons. The dissertation thereby provides implications for research on both social comparisons in the classroom and the use of IVR as an experimental tool in educational and social psychology research in general