Immersive technologies are assumed to have many benefits for learning due to their potential positive impact on optimizing learners' cognitive load and fostering intrinsic motivation. However, despite promising results, the findings regarding the actual impact on learning remain inconclusive, raising questions about the determinants of efficacy.…

Due to the rise of virtual reality and the--at least now--hypothetical construct of the Metaverse, learning processes are increasingly transferred to immersive virtual learning environments. While the literature provides few design guidelines, most papers miss an application and evaluation description of the design and development processes. As a…

Virtual reality (VR) has become a promising tool for enhancing social skills in special education, K-12 education, and post-secondary education. However, there is a lack of comprehensive meta-analyses examining the effectiveness of VR social skills training and the factors that moderate its efficacy. In this study, a meta-analysis approach was…

Contextual shifts are crucial for episodic memory, setting event boundaries during event segmentation. While lab research provides insights, it often lacks the complexity of real-world experiences. We addressed this gap by examining perceptual and conceptual boundaries using virtual reality (VR). Participants acted as salespeople, interacting with…

There has been a growing interest in developing simulated learners to enhance learning and teaching experiences in educational environments. However, existing works have primarily focused on structured environments relying on meticulously crafted representations of tasks, thereby limiting the learner's ability to generalize skills across tasks. In…

Architectural design representations comprise physical (models, drawings) and digital media (3D models). Multimodal combinations of physical and digital representations are commonplace in professional contexts such as design reviews or building sites, and 'making sense' of these assemblies requires complex socio-cognitive processes and…

The growing influence of technology has prompted numerous scholars to explore how virtual reality (VR) affects performance. This study aims to validate the technology acceptance model (TAM) for VR in collaborative learning to enhance performance. We employed a questionnaire for data collection, distributed to 423 master's students in China…

This article introduces the development process of social presence-enabled augmented reality (SPEAR) tool, an innovative augmented reality (AR) based learning application tailored for online engineering education. SPEAR focuses on a learning module of structural beam-bending, empowering users to seamlessly integrate 3-D virtual beams into their…

Virtual reality (VR) has gained prominence and a growing prevalence. However, parental attitudes toward using VR for educational purposes (i.e., educational VR (EVR)) are under-researched. This study investigates parents' perceptions and experiences regarding the use of EVR, focussing on mathematics learning. Using the technology acceptance model…

Laboratory activities are central to undergraduate student learning in science and engineering. With advancements in computer technology, many laboratory activities have shifted from providing students experiments in a physical mode to providing them in a virtual mode. Further, physical and virtual modes can be combined to address a single topic,…

This study examines the evolution of educational practices in the digital era and the integration of information technologies in teaching. Through an automated search in six digital libraries, we identified 99 relevant studies spanning the period from 1990 to 2021. We draw on a systematic mapping approach to classify these studies for better…

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the potential of virtual reality-based teacher training (VRBTT). Despite this surge, the impact of VRBTT on teacher training outcomes remains unclear and cannot be generalized from generic VR-based training approaches. This study aimed to evaluate the overall effects of VRBTT and explore potentially…

Background: Virtual laboratories are used to supplement or even replace physical laboratories in engineering education. Although these virtual laboratories allow students to learn foundational experimental skills, they do not provide the learners with the chance to develop higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Computational thinking (CT) is an…

There is an increasing international focus on multi-user virtual reality (VR) training for all emergency medical technicians within the framework of their respective disaster medical preparedness initiatives. While multiuser VR is often deployed in a variety of digital educational settings, it has not been meaningfully explored in emergency…

Research into the use of virtual reality (VR) for educational purposes is increasing, but most of the existing literature focuses on the positive effects of VR on users, with its possible negative effects remaining underexplored. An inadequate understanding of the negative effects can put users at risk. To address this research gap, the main…