How Will VR Enter University Classrooms? Multi-stakeholders Investigation of VR in Higher Education

VR has received increased attention as an educational tool and many argue it is destined to influence educational practices, especially with the emergence of the Metaverse. Most prior research on educational VR reports on applications or systems designed for specified educational or training objectives. However, it is also crucial to understand current practices and attitudes across disciplines, having a holistic view to extend the body of knowledge in terms of VR adoption in an authentic setting. Taking a higher-level perception of people in different roles, we conducted a qualitative analysis based on 23 interviews with major stakeholders and a series of participatory design workshops with instructors and students. We identified the stakeholders who need to be considered for using VR in higher education, and highlighted the challenges and opportunities critical for VR current and potential practices in the university classroom. Finally, we discussed the design implications based on our findings. This study contributes a detailed description of current perceptions and considerations from a multi-stakeholder perspective, providing new empirical insights for designing novel VR and HCI technologies in higher education.

Rather than building another VR app for one course, this paper steps back to ask a bigger question: what do students, instructors, IT staff, and administrators all need for VR to realistically enter university classrooms? Through 23 interviews and design workshops, the authors map out the ecosystem of stakeholders and surface the practical challenges -- from headset logistics to curriculum fit -- that must be solved for VR to move from novelty to everyday teaching tool.