Abstract:

Based on knowledge about the positive contribution of digital technologies in the educational process, their introduction into education is a relevant requirement for pedagogical practice. The long-term goal, declared in various climate-related documents, is to strengthen the knowledge and awareness of students about climate change, its impacts as well as ways of adapting to its manifestation. One of the attractive potential options for achieving this goal is improving the availability of experiential learning using digital technologies, especially virtual reality tools. According to several sources, virtual reality represents a positive and appropriate tool to support several aspects of the educational process. In our practice, however, we encounter several barriers and problems of virtual reality implementation in the pedagogical process. In this article, the limits that we currently encounter are clarified on the concrete example of the cross-sectional topic of environmental education with an emphasis on climate change. The limiting factor may be the teachers themselves and their ability to work with virtual reality tools. In the same way, we perceive the design of the common courses itself as limiting (physical conditions and classroom environment, number of students and time allocation), or the very availability of suitable models and scenarios for the desired purpose, or the difficulty of their production, etc. In the article, the authors try to suggest the possibilities of solving this situation. In order to address problematic moments and utilize the potential of virtual reality in the university environment the creation of a virtual reality laboratory is assumed. Such a laboratory would be directly designed for the implementation of module courses using digital technology.

Keywords:

Education, digital technologies, virtual reality, immersion, climate change.