In recent years, the popularity of information technologies, their role and degree of use in many areas, in particular in the field of education, has been growing. The implementation of digital educational tools in the educational process allows to increase its flexibility, to apply more individual approaches to the education seekers and to encourage them to self-improvement.
Today, the use of many digital technologies, such as audio and video devices, interactive whiteboards, computers, tablets, etc., for better learning of educational material is common in educational institutions. Immersive technologies, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, have been gaining more and more development over the last decade and are occupying their niche in the field of education.
Virtual reality technologies make it possible to create an artificial interactive three-dimensional world with which the user interacts by engaging the senses. To interact with the objects of this world, you need to use special peripheral devices, which are of various types, from simple, like head-mounted displays or gloves, to complex, like navigation panels or rooms. The disadvantage of such software is the impossibility of ensuring its cross-platform compatibility for different types of hardware that can be used in the educational process.
Based on the analysis of scientific literature, ways to increase the effectiveness of learning by introducing immersive learning environments into the educational process have been identified, and the main advantages of learning using virtual reality technologies compared to traditional methods have been highlighted. An analysis of modern head-mounted displays as the main device for reproducing the virtual world for educational platforms was conducted and it was determined that the most popular of them is the Oculus Quest 2 model.
Through analysis of the Oculus app store, it has been determined that only a small percentage of commercial systems can be used as aids in the learning process.
The article presents a formed classification of immersive educational environments, which defines a set of functions in a system of a certain type. Using the proposed classification, you can determine the necessary characteristics of the virtual reality application being developed for training and choose the optimal technologies for its implementation.
- Kremen, V. H. (Red.). (2021). Entsyklopediia osvity (2-he vyd.) [Encyclopedia of Education (2nd ed.)]. Yurinkom Inter.
- Kodzhaspirova, H. M, & Petrov, K. V. (2021). Tekhnichni zasoby navchannia ta metodyka yikh vykorystannia [Technical teaching aids and methods of their use]. Vydavnychyi tsentr «Akademiia».
- Melnyk, I., Zaderei, N., & Nefodova. H. (2018, 14-19 May). Dopovnena ta virtualna realnist yak resurs navchalnoi diialnosti studentiv [Augmented and virtual reality as a resource for students educational activities]. Informatsiini tekhnolohii ta komp’iuterne modeliuvannia [Information technologies and computer modeling]: materialy statei Mizhnarodnoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii (pp. 61-64). Vasyl Stefanyk PNU.
- Christou, C. (2010). Virtual Reality in Education. In Affective, Interactive and Cognitive Methods for e- Learning Design: Creating an Optimal Education Experience (pp. 228-243). IGI Global, Hershey.
- Fuchs, P., Moreau, G., & Guitton, P. (2011). Virtual Reality: Concepts and Technologies. Boca Raton, CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/b11612
- Tovar, D. F., Jonker, V., & Hürst, W. (2020, January). Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in Education: A review. https://educate-it.uu.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/20200204_rapportage-...
- Kuhail, M. A., ElSayary, A., Farooq, Sh., & Alghamdi, A. (2022). Exploring Immersive Learning Experiences: A Survey. Informatics. (9). https://doi.org/10.3390/informatics9040075
- Schott, C. & Marshall, S. (2020). Full-immersion virtual reality for experiential education: An exploratory user experience analysis. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. (37), 96-110. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.5166.
- Chung, W., & Barnett-Cowan, M. (2023). Sensory reweighting: a common mechanism for subjective visual vertical and cybersickness susceptibility. Virtual Reality. (27), 2029-2041. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-023-00786-z
- Martín-Gutiérrez, J., Mora, C. E., Añorbe-Díaz, B., & González-Marrero, A. (2017). Virtual Technologies Trends in Education. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education. 13(2), 469- 486. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00626a
- Jumani, A. K., Waqas, A. S, Laghari, A. A, Abro, A., & Abdullah, A. K. (2022). Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality for Education. In Multimedia Computing Systems and Virtual Reality. Boca Raton. CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003196686-9.
- Calvet, L., Bourdin, P., & Prados, F. (2019, 5-7 November). Immersive Technologies in Higher Education: Applications, Challenges, and Good Practices. 3rd International Conference on Education and E- Learning (pp. 95-99). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/3371647.3371667.
- Radianti, J., Majchrzak, T. A., Fromm, J., & Wohlgenannt, I. (2020). A systematic review of immersive virtual reality applications for higher education: Design elements, lessons learned, and research agenda. Computers & Education. (147). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103778.
- Hu-Au, E. & Lee, J. (2018). Virtual reality in education: a tool for learning in the experience age. International Journal of Innovation in Education. 4(4), 215-226. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJIIE.2017.10012691.
- Mäkelä, M., Kiltti, P., Vilpola, I. & Tervonen, J. (2012). Suitability of a Virtual Learning Environment for Higher Education. Electronic Journal of e-Learning. 3(1), 23–32.
- Ray, A. B., & Deb, S. (2016). Smartphone Based Virtual Reality Systems in Classroom Teaching — A Study on the Effects of Learning Outcome. 2016 IEEE Eighth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E) (pp. 68-71). https://doi.org/10.1109/T4E.2016.022.
- Janssen, D., Tummel, C., Richert, A., & Isenhardt, I. (2016). Towards Measuring User Experience, Activation and Task Performance in Immersive Virtual Learning Environments for Students. Immersive Learning Research Network, Second International Conference (ILRN) (pp. 45-58). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41769-1_4.
- Sviridova, E., Yastrebova, E., Bakirova, G., & Rebrina, F. (2023) Immersive technologies as an innovative tool to increase academic success and motivation in higher education. Front. Educ. (8). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1192760
- Bryson, S. (2013). Virtual reality: A definition history ‒ A personal essay . https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1312.4322.
- Fortune Business Insights. (2021, 4 May). Virtual Reality in Education Market to Reach USD 13,098.2 Million by 2026; Introduction of Virtuosi, an on-demand Educational Platform by Quality Executive Partners to Bolster Growth: states Fortune Business Insights™. https://www.globenewswire.com/news- release/2021/05/04/2222262/0/en/Virtual-Reality-in-Education-Market-to-Reach-USD-13-098-2-Million-by-2026- Introduction-of-Virtuosi-an-on-demand-Educational-Platform-by-Quality-Executive-Partners-to-Bolster-Growth.html
- Nevodnyk, L. O. (n. d.). Virtualna ekskursiia yak odna iz efektyvnykh form orhanizatsii navchalnoho protsesu [Virtual excursion as one of the effective forms of organizing the educational process]. http://osvita.ua/school/lessons_summary/education/36910/.
- Creed, C., Al Kalbani, M., Theil, A., Sarcar, S., & Williams, I. (2023). Inclusive AR/VR: accessibility barriers for immersive technologies. Universal Access in the Information Society. (23), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-023-00969-0.
- Slavova, Y., & Mu, M. (2018, 18–22 March). A comparative study of the learning outcomes and experience of VR in education. 2018 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) (pp. 685– 686). https://doi.org/10.1109/VR.2018.8446486
- KOCH News. (2019, 14 March). Virtual Reality is Transforming Koch Facilities. https://news.kochind.com/news/2019/virtual-reality-is-transforming-koch-...
- Berezovskyi, V. S., & Stetsenko, I. V. (2013). Stvorennia elektronnykh navchalnykh resursiv i onlain navchannia [Creation of electronic educational resources and online training]. Vydav. hrupa BHV.
- Statista. (2023, October). Share of Steam users with a virtual reality (VR) headset worldwide as of September 2023, by device. https://www.statista.com/statistics/265018/proportion-of-directx-versions-on-the-platform-steam/
- Oculus Store. (n. d.). Explore VR Experiences. https://www.oculus.com/experiences/