Interaction design, Virtual reality and Education: Principles of Designing Virtual Reality Learning Materials – Use Case: Biology Class in Finnish Lower Secondary School

Virtual reality (VR) is a novel technology in the field of education and found promising regarding its ability to motivate students and to enhance learning. NASA and the military developed VR devices originally for simulation training purposes and since then a breakthrough in affordable custom products for the general public has been expected to happen. The technology has improved from the early models, and today the capacity and the quality of devices are getting close to the level of comfortable use. However, adopting this new technology into education requires research as well as quality learning materials which are still both found lacking. The aim of this study is to recognize elements of valuable VR learning material, features to include and elements that can challenge or hinder learning. The study combines principles of interaction design, education, and VR to build a framework for design purposes. The first component, interaction design is to ensure the comfortable use of material and to guarantee that essential information is provided for users. The second component, VR is the technology in interest, and the third component, education sets environmental boundaries for the design providing the pedagogical aspect and defining the learning approach. The four phases of the study comprehend the teachers’ questionnaire (n=18), the development of the application, the students’ user testing and feedback, and the results. The first phase is to find the features that will be included in the VR application designed. The national curriculum and previous research findings are utilized in the structuring and formulation of questionnaires and in the design of the test setting. After building the VR application which follows the approach of inquiry learning, the material is tested by students of lower secondary school (n=17) in an authentic classroom context in the third phase of the study. After the testing, students are asked to give feedback (n=14) and to fill out a questionnaire. In the final phase, the data is analyzed, and the results are discussed. The study reveals that VR is seen advantageous in the field of education both by teachers and students and many possible topics for VR sessions are suggested. In VR learning, most of the twelve quality requirements found relate to themes of usefulness, and students’ experience, but usability and safety aspects are seen important as well. Teachers with over ten years of teaching experience expect significantly more usable learning material and prefer to have a considerably less active role for themselves during VR sessions. The user testing of the learning material reveals being mainly a positive experience for students, but some inadequacies have risen from the material that relate to usability and safety themes: less discomfort (e.g., nausea, headache, migraine) and more comprehensive instructions are needed to meet students’ expectations. These findings suggest that the functionality of VR is not yet fully understood and more research is needed. Especially if subject-related learning is the aim of the study, it is important to pay attention to the sufficient sample size, the test setting and the fact that there is enough time and VR headsets available. Functional learning materials (i.e., tools and platforms) are proposed as the focus of design to enable teachers and students to make the material themselves. Participatory design approach revealed to be valuable in designing and finding challenges of VR learning. The framework used can be recommended for further studies and as a tool to develop better VR learning materials in the future.