A Simple Blueprint for Using Oculus Rift in the Language Learning Classroom

For the past three years, I, as the director of the Cyprus University of Technology’s Innovation Centre and a language lecturer and academic member of the Cyprus University of Technology’s Language Centre, have been experimenting with various Virtual Reality systems in order to enhance the language learning environment and make the language learning experience more effective. Although, this innovative technology has a lot of potential to transform and revolutionize our 21st century language learning classroom and the learning environment overall, Virtual Reality is surrounded by a complex technology that requires the user to have specialized knowledge of the hardware and the software that he or she is about to use. A lack of such knowledge can turn an exciting VR experience into a frustrating nightmare for the language lecturer. Furthermore, it will also fail to become an effective technological learning tool for the language learner. This lack of knowledge has discouraged many language instructors and instructors overall to adapt VR as a learning tool in their courses [1]. Taking this issue into account, I decided to create a simple manual where all the technical and nontechnical issues a lecturer might face when trying to set up and use an Oculus Rift VR system for a language learning class. This paper focuses on the simple errors and pitfalls that can be avoided prior to introducing and using the Oculus Rift VR system in a language learning classroom or course. It could also function as a simple blueprint for training language lecturers in order to use it effectively and stress-free

First-year undergraduate ESP students Virtual Reality User Experience

For the last decade, a plethora of e-tools has permeated and proliferated throughout various educational institutions and classrooms. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classrooms at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) were no exception. CUT ESP instructors have embraced these new and ever-evolving e-tools and implemented them into their classrooms in order to transform and enhance their students’ learning experience (Constantinou, 2018) whereas notable positive impacts in ESP classes have been highlighted on a global scale (Bloch, 2013). The adoption of e-tools in classrooms has not been an easy task for instructors, ESP instructors included. Problems such as lack of infrastructure, lack of training, lecturers’ inexperience with technology as well as inadequate technical support have constituted inhibiting factors for using technology in the classroom. Based on the aforementioned adaptations, this pilot study aims to capture the User Experience (UX) of 14 first-year undergraduate ESP students in Virtual Reality, as an innovative technological tool, in order to determine whether to implement it in the ESP teaching context. The study uses the collection of qualitative data through the conduct of semi-structured interviews in order to investigate further the experience of students with VR