Abstract:

Since digital technology has become a part of our life, for educators, it is necessary to integrate digital technology into the classroom. Virtual reality (VR) is gradually used in educational activities, for instance, teachers combine the VR and the curriculum of the featured school into teaching.

The aim of this research is to explore the application effectiveness of VR combined with the curriculum of the featured school. The research participants were from a junior high school in Taiwan, one class each for grades 7, 8, and 9, with a total of 80 students. This school’s featured course is "Sakura Special Course", the research period is six weeks, during this course, teachers and students jointly complete the VR video in regards to the knowledge of Sakura.

This research adopts qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative research leverage interviews to better understand students' views on the usage of VR in their course and include their learning motivations through VR. Quantitative research leverages a questionnaire (5-point Likert scale) to investigate students' learning motivation, learning interaction, learning attention, learning experience, and learning effectiveness, and analyze these learning outcomes by Cohen's D.

The results of this research found:
1. From the perspective of featured curriculum learning: by integrating digital technology into the featured curriculum, teachers and students participate in video production, which helps improve students' learning effectiveness and learning experience.
2. From the perspective of using VR: the application of VR courses, which is imaginative, interactive, and immersive, enhances sensory stimulation, has a realistic sense of presence and can enhance learning motivation.
3. According to questionnaire results, in terms of learning motivation, learning interaction, learning attention, learning experience, and learning effectiveness, all the grades showed the medium or high strength of effect size, which means that have significant learning outcomes.

Keywords:

Featured school, Learning motivation, Virtual Reality.