Parallax of Heritage: Intersecting Deep Learning, VR, and Cultural Narratives for Preservation

The preservation of cultural heritage plays a crucial role in strengthening national identity and supporting educational development; however, conventional preservation approaches often fail to engage younger generations effectively.Recent studies highlight the potential of digital and immersive technologies to transform cultural heritage learning experiences (Giannini & Bowen, 2019;Hutson, 2024).Addressing this gap, this study investigates the integration of Deep Learning (DL) and Virtual Reality (VR) as innovative tools for cultural heritage education at the high school level.An experimental study was conducted at Senior High School 18 in Pekanbaru, Riau, Indonesia, involving 72 purposively selected students across Grades 9, 11, and 12, consisting of 40 female and 32 male participants.The study examined the effectiveness of a DL-and VR-based learning approach in enhancing students' cultural heritage knowledge as well as their interest and engagement.The findings indicate a statistically significant improvement in students' cultural heritage knowledge following the intervention (p < 0.01).In addition, 87.5% of the participants demonstrated increased interest and engagement in cultural heritage preservation.These results underline the strong potential of combining DL and VR to create immersive and engaging learning environments for cultural heritage education, suggesting that technology-enhanced approaches can substantially improve student engagement and knowledge retention.Further research is recommended to explore the scalability and applicability of this approach across diverse educational and cultural contexts.