Will virtual reality transform online synchronous learning? Evidence from a quality of experience subjective assessment

In this article, we preliminarily discuss the limitations of current video conferencing platforms in online synchronous learning. Research has shown that while the involved technologies are appropriate for collaborative video calls, they often fail to replicate the rich nature of face-to-face interactions among students and between students and professors, by constraining them to a grid of faces on screens and limiting the natural flows of conversation and nonverbal communication. We believe that a potential solution to this issue could be adopting virtual reality (VR) technologies in online synchronous teaching. To test our assumption, we developed a novel subjective assessment involving 44 electronics engineering students who attended real lessons on Internet protocols. The taught content was included in the course program and the final exam; the professor made use of slides for teaching and a blackboard to explain some exercises. Two different learning approaches were used: VR-based online synchronous learning and video-based online synchronous learning. While the former consisted in wearing a headset and participating in a virtual classroom in front of the teacher’s avatar, the latter involved watching a 2-D video of the streamed lesson through a laptop and communicating through the microphone. The opinions collected from the students included several aspects, namely, overall quality of experience, immersion, interactivity, naturalness, usability, entertainment, comfort, side effects, interaction with the teacher and students, and ease of taking notes. Key findings from Welch’s t-test indicate the higher interactivity (p<0.05), naturalness (p<0.01), entertainment (p<0.01), and immersion (p<0.001) perceived by students for the VR-based learning experience than the video-based one. Increased immersion was the most significant aspect, as highlighted by the lowest p-value. On the other hand, the level of comfort was heavily penalized (p<0.001), and students were unable to take notes in the VR classroom environment easily. No significant difference (p>0.05) was achieved for the other considered metrics.