Preliminary Study on the Exploratory Evidence of Immersive Virtual Reality with Haptic Feedback for the Evaluation of Educational Software by Pre-Service Teacher Education

This preliminary study explored the use of an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environment with haptic feedback to provide exploratory evidence on the development of competencies for evaluating educational software among pre-service teacher education students specializing in Educational Informatics. A one-group pre-experimental design with pretest and posttest assessments was applied to a sample of 50 students. The intervention involved immersive activities using Hi5 Noitom 2.0 haptic gloves and HTC Vive headsets within a virtual environment developed on the CoSpaces Edu platform, where participants evaluated educational software with a validated rubric covering four dimensions: usability, functionality, reliability, and educational content. Statistical analysis revealed significant improvements across all indicators (p < 0.001), with higher mean scores and reduced variability, suggesting more consistent evaluative competencies. Paired t-tests confirmed significant gains in all dimensions. These findings should be interpreted as preliminary and exploratory; causal relationships cannot be established. Nevertheless, the study provides initial evidence that immersive VR with haptic technologies may offer promising and innovative pedagogical strategies to support the development of critical judgment and technical skills in the assessment of digital educational resources, aligned with the demands of 21st-century teacher preparation.