Exploring Campus through Web-Based Immersive Adventures Using Virtual Reality Photography: A Low-Cost Virtual Tour Experience

This study aims to assess the incorporation of virtual reality (VR) photography into the web-based immersive application “virtual interactive campus tour (VICT).” This application offers users an immersive experience, allowing them to virtually explore university campuses and access information about the facilities and services available. The VICT application offers a cost-effective, attractive, and sustainable alternative for universities to display their resources and interact with potential students. Through black box testing, we conducted user acceptance testing (UAT) and functionality testing, confirming the application’s readiness for deployment and its capability to meet institutional and end-user requirements. This study also examined the potential for universities to use VR to meet the expectations of prospective students. The application is compatible with both desktop and mobile devices. The results indicated that the overall average validity score was 0.88, suggesting that the measure is valid. The validation results were thoroughly tested and reliable. This study emphasizes the potential of immersive web-based tours in higher education and aims to bridge the divide between virtual exploration and physical visits. By offering an immersive virtual campus experience, this innovative tool has the potential to revolutionize university marketing strategies, increase student engagement, and transform campus visit approaches

Virtually There: A Phenomenological Study of Secondary Students and Their Engagement with Virtual Reality Field Trips

The study seeks to inform solution to the lack of student exposure to frequent, culturally enriching field trips in school. To address the concern of limited learning through school field trips, this phenomenological study seeks to explore the lived experiences of virtual reality field trips for secondary students. The study seeks to examine how students respond emotionally, physically, and cognitively to the use of virtual reality within the classroom. Data analysis consists of observing, interviewing, and assessing students as they engage in and complete a virtual reality field trip. The three research domains are transcribed and analyzed to better understand how students respond in a virtual field trip. The results will lead to further studies on the use of virtual reality field trips as a teaching strategy to improve student learning

Le tecnologie immersive e l’esercizio delle competenze localizzative nella didattica della geografia

Il presente lavoro intende contribuire al dibattito sulla costruzione di un nuovo sapere geografico, partendo anche dalla sperimentazione di nuove metodologie e nuovi strumenti tecnologici per l’insegnamento. In particolare, vuole indagare come uno dei principi fondanti della pratica disciplinare, l’osservazione geografica, possa essere praticata con l’utilizzo delle tecnologie immersive quali la Realtà Virtuale (VR) e la Realtà Aumentata (AR). Nel dettaglio si indaga come queste tecnologie condizionino il processo di osservazione negli alunni delle scuole secondarie e come questi esercitino le loro competenze di tipo localizzativo in specifiche situazioni di apprendimento. La ricerca ha avuto quindi un duplice scopo: da un lato valutare come le competenze localizzative possano essere esercitate a scuola in ambienti di VR/AR, dall’altro misurare se l’utilizzo di questi ambienti migliori l’esperienza di apprendimento a scuola, almeno in termini qualitativi. Per fare questo si è osservata la prestazione di un campione di studenti in un contesto quasi-sperimentale nel quale hanno potuto utilizzare un ambiente di apprendimento immersivo appositamente progettato per l’esperienza. Il protocollo proposto ha consentito di monitorare come l’allievo riesca a utilizzare le informazioni geografiche per comprendere le variabili presenti in un determinato contesto e costruire autonomamente nuova conoscenza. Nella valutazione dell’esperienza di apprendimento sono stati coinvolti anche i docenti, che hanno fornito importanti dettagli sui temi dell’indagine. Il progetto di ricerca si è arricchito nel suo svolgimento di una serie di esperienze legate all’uso didattico degli ambienti di apprendimento immersivi anche in altri contesti formativi, fra i quali quello universitario. L’ampiezza delle esperienze svolte con gli studenti, il confronto con altri ricercatori nell’ambito di esperienze congressuali nazionali e internazionali , nonché lo studio preliminare della letteratura già esistente sulle tematiche affrontate, ha consentito di ottenere interessanti conclusioni. Prima fra tutte quella che l’elemento di interazione nella fruizione di contenuti immersivi consente un maggiore coinvolgimento, facilitando il processo di apprendimento sia in termini generali sia in relazione alle competenze geografiche indagate. In secondo luogo, che le tecnologie a medio grado di immersività si sono rivelate, per gli scopi di questo lavoro, le più adatte per perseguire gli scopi formativi legati alla disciplina. Infine, che gli aspetti organizzativi e di fruibilità condizionano nella concretezza la buona riuscita delle esperienze di apprendimento con strumenti immersivi nel contesto scolastico.This work intends to contribute to the debate on the construction of a new geographical knowledge, also starting from the experimentation of new methodologies and new technological tools for teaching. In particular, it wants to investigate how one of the founding principles of disciplinary practice, geographical observation, can be practiced with the use of immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). In detail, we investigate how these technologies condition the observation process in secondary school pupils and how they exercise their location-type skills in specific learning situations. The research therefore had a dual purpose: on the one hand, to evaluate how localization skills can be exercised at school in VR/AR environments, on the other, to measure whether the use of these environments improves the learning experience at school, at least in qualitative terms. To do this, the performance of a sample of students was observed in a quasi-experimental context in which they were able to use an immersive learning environment specially designed for the experience. The proposed protocol made it possible to monitor how the student is able to use geographical information to understand the variables present in a given context and independently build new knowledge. The teachers were also involved in the evaluation of the learning experience, who provided important details on the topics of the survey. The research project has been enriched in its development by a series of experiences related to the didactic use of immersive learning environments also in other training contexts, including the university one. The breadth of the experiences carried out with the students, the comparison with other researchers in the context of national and international congress experiences, as well as the preliminary study of the already existing literature on the topics addressed, made it possible to obtain interesting conclusions. First of all that the element of interaction in the use of immersive content allows for greater involvement, facilitating the learning process both in general terms and in relation to the geographical skills investigated. Secondly, for the purposes of this work, technologies with a medium degree of immersion have proved to be the most suitable for pursuing the educational purposes related to the discipline. Finally, that the organizational and usability aspects concretely condition the success of learning experiences with immersive tools in the school context