El uso de la Realidad Virtual Inmersiva en las aulas: un meta-análisis

Abstract

Although the first designs of devices for accessing computer-generated virtual worlds date back over half a century, two factors needed to come together to create the explosion of Virtual- Reality-related projects we have seen in recent years. The first was the progressive increase in the computing power of general-purpose computers. The second was the reduction in the cost of de- vices needed to access this technology. In this paper we conduct a meta-analysis of 15 educational projects that employed Immersive Virtual Reality technology in the classroom between 2015 and 2020. For this analysis we examined variables such as the projects’ objectives, the educational sta- ges and courses in which they were used, their subject matter, and the software and type of devices employed. Our results show that most of these projects were conducted in 2020 and that the aims of the projects were to develop students’ interest in a field of knowledge or to analyse their effective- ness in enabling students’ acquisition of concepts. We also found that secondary education was the educational stage at which most initiatives were developed and that low-cost devices such as Google Cardboard were mainly used. However, this homogeneity in hardware was not reciprocated when it came to software, which was much more fragmented. The latter result highlights the difficulties teachers may have when selecting suitable tools for initiatives involving Immersive Virtual Reality