Effect of Virtual Reality News Presentation on News Learning

Abstract

This is the first study in which the effects of viewing VR/360-degree video with and without a Cardboard device on news learning outcomes are examined. Cognitive load theory and the dual-coding hypothesis were adopted as the theoretical framework. An experiment was performed with 213 participants watching news clips. The findings show that the participants learned news information better from normal broadcast video or when they watched VR/360-degree video without a Cardboard device than when they watched VR/360-degree video with a Cardboard device. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.