CVRRICULUM Program: Benefits and Challenges of Embedding Virtual Reality as an Educational Medium in Undergraduate Curricula

Abstract

Since the release of more affordable, portable, and easy-to-use virtual reality (VR) systems in 2014, there has been renewed interest in using this technology in education, as an alternative to traditional learning, because it creates more opportunities for experiential education. Despite the many benefits and affordances of VR, widespread adoption in post-secondary education has been limited, and gaps remain in the provisioning of detailed guidelines for implementing this technology in curricula. Our team developed the CVRRICULUM (CVR) initiative: a pilot program that recruited instructors to adapt a traditional written assignment into a VR format. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect data from five instructor and 18 student participants. In this manuscript we describe the implementation process, report the identified challenges, and provide suggestions that should improve subsequent offerings. Our team addressed raised challenges by creating a set of resources available on the CVR website.