The authors provide information and research on virtual learning environments and how they can support teacher preparation programs.

Undergraduate lab sessions play a crucial role in building and reinforcing conceptual understanding in STEM education. In third and fourth year higher education, lab sessions can be challenging to incorporate into the curriculum due to cost, safety, or difficulty in realizing abstract concepts. Mixed reality (MR) systems provide a novel solution…

The main goal of this paper is to unveil the results of survey study that intends to explore the candidate teachers' opinions about using augmented reality (AR) in classrooms. For this purpose, marker-based mobile augmented reality application has been developed and computer hardware devices are used as a teaching material. In addition, candidate…

Virtual reality applications for blind people in smartphones were used to make virtual visits in advance to unknown spaces; these need to include a set of cognitive and sensitive interfaces that allow users to use their other sensory capabilities to understand information about their environment and facilitate the interaction with the application,…

The informal setting of online multiplayer video games may offer safe spots for speakers of other languages learning English to practice their communication skills and reduce their anxiety about using a second language. In this study, the author examined the relationship between both these concerns and the time spent playing such games by basic…

Role-playing simulations can provide students with experiential learning opportunities to develop strong interviewing and diagnosis skills, and practice skills they are learning in their classes. In this study, students completed role-playing activities in an online 3D virtual counselor training facility, and interviewed "patient"…

While learning can happen anywhere and everywhere, most educational practices in K-12 are confined within the walls of a classroom and the school; such practices narrowly define learning and exclude the opportunities that an expanded and digitally mediated definition of learning can offer. Augmented reality (AR) technologies offer exciting new…

Among schools of nursing nationwide, the competition for clinical sites, and insufficient numbers of nurse preceptors led nursing schools to turn away thousands of qualified applicants. Due to a shortage of clinical sites, shortage of nurse preceptors, and an increase in simulation technology, nursing schools used simulation clinical in place of…

Virtual reality via mobile-rendered head-mounted displays (MVR) has emerged as a valuable language learning tool. However, research has yet to fully access its effects on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) listening. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of MVR on EFL learners' listening comprehension. Seventy-two seventh graders in…

This article examines the use of both game-based learning (GBL) and gamification in tertiary education. This study focuses specifically on the use of games and/or simulations as well as familiarity with gamification strategies by communication faculty. Research questions concentrate on the rate, frequency, and usage of digital and non-digital…

This article provides the first review of the existing literature consolidating research into the use of virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies within K-12 educational environments. The review explores the peer-reviewed scholarly studies conducted between 2006 and May 2017, which involved the use of virtual reality (VR), augmented…

Over the last 3 years, the "Climate Change and Me" project has mapped children and young people's affective, creative, and ontological relationships with climate change through an emergent and child-framed research methodology. The project has involved working with 135 children and young people from across Northern NSW, Australia, as…

Using novel virtual cities, we investigated the influence of verbal and visual strategies on the encoding of navigation-relevant information in a large-scale virtual environment. In 2 experiments, participants watched videos of routes through 4 virtual cities and were subsequently tested on their memory for observed landmarks and their ability to…

During locomotion, individuals can determine their positions with either idiothetic cues from movement (path integration systems) or visual landmarks (piloting systems). This project investigated how these 2 systems interact in determining humans' positions. In 2 experiments, participants studied the locations of 5 target objects and 1 single…

This study explored the potential of Second Life (SL), a popular multi-user virtual online environment, for university counseling. University students (n = 312) were asked to evaluate three counseling channels (i.e., traditional face-to-face, internet, and SL) based on a range of media features deemed relevant and important to counseling and to…