How VR benefits learning, training and student engagement
Creating improved ways of immersive learning with VR
Virtual reality (VR) in education is helping to supercharge learning outcomes and make students feel like they're truly there. Thanks to ultra-real virtual simulations, students from all over the world can learn and collaborate as if they're truly together.
The benefits of immersive technology in education are being seen from secondary school, university and vocational and professional schools. For students, it's leading to improved knowledge retention and engagement. For teachers, it's unlocking immersive lessons with interactive learning tools that connect classrooms to abstract topics, encouraging learners of all abilities to contribute. And for learning institutions, VR is deepening people's sense of belonging.
Here are some of the ways that virtual and mixed reality (MR) in education are enhancing learning, training and student engagement.
Creating the classroom of the future in VR/MR
VR for education is helping to create classrooms of the future, improving learning outcomes. The technology allows students to get closer to the real thing – learn, create and explore in simulations that make them feel like they're truly there.
Through a broad ecosystem of content partners such as ENGAGE, Victory XR and Optima Ed, VR education is bringing lessons to life: from talking to a digital Benjamin Franklin in history, venturing to outer space in science or learning marine biology from the ocean floor. Such immersive experiences bring complex ideas to life, in environments that offer students a safe space to fail, create and develop.
For example, when Inspired Education Group used virtual reality (VR) to overcome teaching challenges for online and physical students, the international co-educational learning provider saw significant improvements in student engagement, confidence and learning outcomes. This included 94% of students learning better in VR, 90% reporting increased engagement and interest in their lessons, and 25% higher confidence in knowledge.
The benefit extended to Inspired teachers too: 100% identified that students' confidence in their knowledge improved to a good or very good standard after participating in a VR lesson, while 85% reported improvement in remembering content. In fact, more than 75% said that they'd prefer to deliver appropriate lessons in VR.
"I taught a lesson on World War One trenches in VR and it recreated the environment – students were able to more deeply understand the environment, in a way that they couldn't from a textbook", says Joana Simas, Global Head of EdTech Implementation, Inspired Education Group. "Some even referred to the trenches having a smell. In fact, one student said: 'This isn't fair – I know the answer because I was there.'"
VR/MR is also being implemented in universities, helping to elevate educators' voices. At the University of Glasgow, 2D materials are often used to explain complex 3D subjects, such as chemistry and archaeology. This has limitations. For example, a 2022 study shows that immersive learning experiences lead to significantly greater presence, enjoyment, interest and retention in an immediate and delayed post-test compared to learning in 2D video.
Following a competition that invited University of Glasgow teachers to propose how MR could overcome physical teaching constraints, winning ideas were developed into 12 immersive learning apps with software partner Edify, covering subjects from microbiology to history. Now, thousands of students every semester are taught using MR, including in a dedicated MR teaching lab.
"What MR allows us to do, in general, is break the laws of physics", says Professor Neil McDonnell, Philosophy and XR Technology, University of Glasgow. "The technology enables us to move beyond physical constraints."
Deepening understanding with VR/MR
Virtual reality in education goes beyond knowledge retention, however. The technology is also helping students to learn soft skills, deepen understanding and foster community.
For example, non-profit Locker Room Talk has built a VR learning experience in the metaverse that's reached 11K players, teaching boys respect and gender equality. Whereas youth league coaches can lack the skills to teach these important topics in person, the VR emotional intelligence training course provides a simpler, more engaging and scalable way for them to do so.
Harvard Business School, meanwhile, redefined the traditional reunion through VR. Alumni were sent Meta Quest headsets, allowing them to virtually attend their former professor giving a speech about his new book. With an intimate front-row seat, each attendee was able to immerse themselves in the experience. Afterwards, they headed to a virtual plaza for a catch-up, designed to replicate the vibrant atmosphere of a physical gathering – without the time and travel costs.
With apps such as Bodyswaps, Immerse Language Learning and Inspirit VR and ENGAGE, students can learn and study together wherever they are – unlocking new possibilities for collaboration and creativity.
Educating the future workforce in MR
Technical colleges and professional schools, particularly in healthcare, are also leveraging MR and VR education to boost learning outcomes. Through content partners such as Labster and VR Patients, institutions are unlocking deeper, more immersive experiences that allow trainees to learn remotely. Realistic VR environments replicate high-risk scenarios in a low-risk environment – from surgical operations to safe spaces that allow them to experience how gender and socioeconomic status can influence the care patients receive.
For example, Purdue Global used Meta Quest to simulate a wide range of real-world, hands-on scenarios to help address a national nursing shortage. Students dispersed throughout the US conducted head to toe assessments, performed infant wellness checks and treated patients with different symptoms – all in VR. By removing barriers around geography and accessibility, it's led to a 10-15% increase in the pass rate on the national exam to become a registered nurse. Over 4,000 graduate nurses have been supported through VR so far.
At NYU College of Dentistry, manikins were replaced with a custom, immersive MR simulation for local anaesthesia training. Using Meta Quest headsets, this two-part simulation included virtual syringe assembly and injection of a detailed virtual patient in a realistic clinic. Since 2021, more than 1,600 students have trained in individual NYU Dentistry MR sessions.
The result: educational institutions create richer, deeper virtual learning experiences without the travel and time costs. For example, Pfizer reported USDÂ 23K savings per trainee/trainer pair on aseptic training in VR vs non-VR training, with up to 60% time savings, when training hundreds of new operators after its COVID-19 vaccine.
But the benefits of VR/MR learning are also long-lasting. Students not only have more opportunities to practise complex, high-risk scenarios in a safe setting – they also have as much time as they need to train on demand. Instructors can launch immersive lessons that connect classrooms to the complex. Learning institutions can create VR communities, where people feel a real sense of purpose. And, in the workplace, graduates can begin their careers feeling more ready and sure of themselves.
Get in touch with Meta for Work
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Keep reading about working in virtual reality (VR):
What is the best VR headset for work?
Four companies using VR/MR in healthcare
Six innovations shaping the future of work
Sources
- Benefits of taking a virtual field trip in immersive virtual reality: Evidence for the immersion principle in multimedia learning, National Library of Medicine, April 2022.
