Exploring pedagogical foundations of existing virtual reality (VR) educational applications: A content analysis study
The goal was to use a directed content analysis design to clarify the pedagogical foundations of 35 virtual reality (VR) educational applications where pedagogies were unstated. A second goal was to test the organizational pedagogical schemata developed by Kebritchi and Hirumi (2008) as the initial set of categories that could aid in analyzing content from various public sources and distinguishing educational pedagogies in VR applications. This paper has the intention of building on existing literature related to pedagogical foundations of Virtual Reality educational applications.
New virtual reality (VR) applications for education appear frequently in the marketplace but rarely contain explicit pedagogies. The research objective of this study was to identify and categorize principles and practices of pedagogy that are evident but not articulated in selected VR applications for education. Analysis of public content for the VR applications showed most were experiential while others were categorized as discovery learning, constructivism, situated cognition, direct instruction, or unclassified approaches. Educators and VR designers could use explicit pedagogical frameworks to support faculty development, construct extended, and congruent curricular options that stimulate reflections, build insights, and insure innovative and measurable outcomes.