Abstract:

We present an experience report on a project, which used Virtual Reality (VR) in class as a teaching tool. Specifically, it took advantage of this technology to build a virtual environment in which some students (in turn) could act as actors, simulating salesperson-customer interactions in a virtual store, while other students watched the simulation, and the teacher supervised the activity, intervening where he or she thought it useful to give suggestions or directions to one or the other actor. The experimentation involved five teachers and two classes (daytime and evening) with students of different ages and backgrounds. The system had been built ad-hoc by a local company participating in the project, and a technician was present to supervise the activities carried out and to get feedback to make improvements to the system itself.
The project can be considered an instance of the so-called "Metaverse," envisioned by many as the future digital platform for interaction between people, surpassing (and integrating into) Web and Social Media. In particular, the Metaverse is thought to offer new perspectives and possibilities in education in the future. In particular, the Metaverse is often divided into 4 areas depending on whether it relies on Virtual Reality rather than Augmented Reality, and on the internal world (understood as a subject's identity and its relationships) rather than the external world (the reality in which the subject is immersed) [1]. Our project stands in the second quadrant of the Metaverse (Virtual Words), as it uses VR and focuses on identity and relationships.
The simulations carried out with the system, reminiscent of the canons of theatrical fiction, were highly engaging for students. They moved and interacted in a virtual world, which allowed them to estrange themselves from the real context, concealing prior relationships among them when interacting with each other, and to overcome the shyness of manifesting themselves in public. The teachers managed to be present while remaining behind the scenes, sometimes as directors of the action, sometimes as prompters, playing a form of scaffolding that is often evoked as necessary in modern and effective teaching.
In order to monitor, verify and evaluate the impact of the project, we conducted observations, informal interviews and administered questionnaires, involving both teachers, and students. In the paper we will report an overview of the project and the results of our analysis.

References:
[1] Smart J, Cascio J, Paffendorf J. "Metaverse roadmap: pathway to the 3D web [Internet]". Ann Arbor (MI): Acceleration Studies Foundation; 2007

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, Metaverse.