Virtual Reality in Higher Education: Application Scenarios and Recommendations

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Type and Duration

ERASMUS, September 2018 until February 2021

Coordinator

Hilti Chair of Business Process Management

Main Research

Business Process Management

Field of Research

Digital Innovation

Description

Virtual reality (VR) has become a popular and versatile technology that has recently attracted interest from researchers, practitioners and educators alike. The technology offers the potential for all kinds of disciplines and industries, and higher education in particular may also benefit from VR-enhanced education practices. VR simulations and VR collaboration practices especially allow the experience-based acquisition of high-quality skills and competences that are difficult to acquire with other learning methods. Nevertheless, most educators, particularly in higher education, prefer to stick with traditional teaching approaches because they are unsure how to fit VR into their curriculum. Against this background, educators are seeking recommendations regarding how to incorporate suitable VR software and hardware into their curriculum and, in turn, make sustainable investments.

This project aims to create guiding material on the use of VR practices in higher education. By offering access to this material, this project encourages educators to implement VR practices such as virtual field trips, distance courses and virtual collaboration rooms, as well as support the use of digital technologies and the online delivery of courses. The focus of this work lies in supporting educators to select appropriate VR practices for teaching target skills and competences. Educators may even teach intercultural competences by offering courses in collaboration with other higher education institutions and, in turn, foster social inclusion. Taken together, this project intends to mitigate barriers to using VR in higher education, enable educators to improve their instructional quality and guide them to make sustainable investments when acquiring VR hardware and software.

Three universities from three countries, i.e. University of Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein), University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) and University of Agder (Norway), are collaborating on this project. In addition, the headquarter of the European Research Center for Information Systems (ERCIS) with its headquarters at the University of Muenster (Germany) and representatives from the University of Nebraska Omaha (US) support this project as associated partners.

Partner

Publications

  • Radianti, J., Majchrzak, T. A., Fromm, J., & Wohlgenannt, I. (2020). A systematic review of immersive virtual reality applications for higher education: Design elements, lessons learned, and research agenda. Computers & Education, 147(103778).

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  • Wohlgenannt, I., Fromm, J., Stieglitz, S., Radianti, J., & Majchrzak, T. A. (2019). Virtual Reality in Higher Education: Preliminary Results from a Design-Science-Research Project. Paper presented at the 28th International Conference on Information Systems Development (ISD 2019), Toulon, France.

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