Immersive Learning in Psychology Education: An Experimental Study

Despite the growing interest in using immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) games for educational purposes, there is still a scarcity of research in evaluating the impact of IVR games on teaching in general and learning psychology in particular. Though learners generally found IVR to be interesting and motivating, there were inconsistent findings in evaluating the impact of IVR on learning performance. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of learning a psychological topic with a VR game and traditional self-study method. Based on previous literature, it was hypothesized that VR games would enhance learners’ interest and yield better learning performance. 61 participants were recruited and assigned to either the experimental/VR or control/non-VR condition. VR learners played a creative psychological-educational immersive VR game InMind 2 VR (Luden.io, 2017) while the non-VR learners self-studied the same information on a note paper with the same duration. Participants then completed a questionnaire on their learning engagement, interest and motivation immediately, followed by a knowledge test to evaluate their recall of the information one week later. Results showed that compared to non-IVR learners, VR learners showed higher learning engagement, motivation, and interest, along with more positive affect. Contrary to expectation, non-IVR learners out-performed IVR learners in the learning outcomes. This reduced performance is explained in terms of factors affecting the psychological process of learning in an IVR environment. Future research directions and implications for the enhancement of IVR technologies in education are discussed.