Abstract:

This study explores the integration of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technologies in education as a means of fostering student agency in learning. By focusing on the application of these technologies in educational settings, the research investigates how immersive activities in classrooms can facilitate student-centered and active learning experiences, and identifies optimal uses of immersive technologies for promoting student agency among students.

The research examines the use of immersive technologies in schools, investigating how these activities in classrooms facilitate student-centered and active learning experiences. Moreover, it identifies optimal uses of immersive technologies to promote student agency in the learning.

A 3-level framework of technology-enhanced teaching strategies, developed by Blau et al. (2020), ranks strategies according to the level of student agency required of the students in the learning process. This classification clarifies the distinction between various strategies implemented in classrooms and reveals the extent of student agency encouraged in the learning process.

The methodology adopted a qualitative approach of multiple case studies, focusing on two immersive technology modalities in Israeli schools: immersive rooms (IR) and head-mounted virtual reality displays (VR). The study analyzed nine observations of IR-enhanced lessons and five observations of VR-enhanced lessons (14 hours in total). Each lesson was divided into non-immersive and immersive activities (28 containing IR and 16 including VR-enhanced learning). These activities were then categorized according to the 3-level teaching strategies classification mentioned above.

The findings present an in-depth analysis of the extent of student agency in immersive VR/IR-enhanced learning activities including both student agency levels and representative activities for each agency level. It was observed that IR generally promotes medium agency strategies characterized by student independence, albeit with less creativity. Conversely, VR supports a broad spectrum of agency levels, fostering low, medium, and high agency strategies, thus encouraging a more dynamic range of student engagement.

Detailed descriptions of two use cases derived from the lesson observations illustrate the practical application of immersive technologies to promote student agency in education. These case studies demonstrate how both immersive technologies can potentially support student agency by making learning more interactive and engaging, thus enhancing the educational experience beyond traditional classroom settings.

The research underscores that current immersive technology use for student learning in schools remains primarily at medium level of student agency. Teacher technological and pedagogical training geared towards these specific technologies is recommended to further student agency in these innovative learning environments.

Keywords:

Virtual Reality in Education, Immersive Learning Environments, Student Agency in Immersive Technology, Student Centered Learning in Virtual Reality.