Geography Education in a Collaborative Virtual Environment: A Qualitative Study on Geography Teachers

Abstract

The presented study aspires to utilize the gradually validated immense potential of collaborative immersive virtual environments (CIVEs) in higher education when designing and conducting geography lessons. These particular lessons focused on hypsography. A Research through Design approach and relevant qualitative methodology were used as we engaged two groups of domain experts (experienced geography teachers) to validate both the learning scenarios and the virtual environment we used. The lessons were administered via eDIVE—a novel platform for collaborative learning and teaching in virtual reality of our own design. The teachers underwent a hypsography virtual lesson and were randomly divided into two groups to be compared, which differed in the level of structure given to the lesson (one group received detailed instructions on what task they were to solve, while the other was given a free hand in exploring the environment and activities it afforded). The teachers’ experiences were then summarized in a post-lesson reflection and a subsequent focus group following the tasks. The participants’ expertise allowed insights to be gained into their first-hand experience as students, as well as their expert view of the lesson from an educational point of view. Virtual reality’s implementation into teaching practice was the key topic of the discussion.