Part 1 From Myths To Principles: Navigating Instructional Design in Immersive Environments

 

This article begins a new series where I intend to continue to bust myths related to learning in immersive environments while also advocating for research-based decisions related to instructional design.

Now if that sounded like gobbly-gook, this might not be the series for you. But, for anyone with an interest in virtual worlds, the metaverse, or even a simple 2D simulation and the uses of these for education, this is the RIGHT place for you.

 

This is an updated version of my original 8-part Instructional Design in the Metaverse series. (Did you miss that? Here's my 3 minute explainer video.) I estimate that I have at least 15 parts right now to start this series and new research comes in every day. However, this being my blog, I intend to spill a little more tea here than I do in other places.

Buckle up buttercups!

Introduction

A wondrous thing happens the first time a learner steps into the metaverse; the learner enters a land of digital imagination. The immersive technology creates and presents what the learner senses visually and auditorily. Because those experiences are digital creations, the possibilities can be as varied and broad as human imagination. This wide open promise of anything anywhere has attracted educators and researchers for more than two decades. Within the body of research generated from this attraction, significant challenges remain for those interested in the prudent application of the immersive learning design.

The global virtual reality (VR) industry is forecast to reach $435 billion in United States dollars within the next 6 years, reflecting a compounded annual growth rate of 27% (Yahoo Finance, 2023). Immersive or extended reality (XR) technologies are broad combinations of computer technology that overlays or fully surround the learner with digitally constructed sights, sounds, smell, taste, pressure, heat, and texture sensations (Ziker et al., 2021). XR as a broad term is understood to encompass virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Immersive experiences stand distinct as an educational media choice due to the factors of immersion, embodiment, and presence that arise within the learner (Southgate, 2020). This series will use the term immersive experiences to refer to the inclusive concept of learning within virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, cross reality, transmedia, and the metaverse.

Immersive experiences are expected to expand within the next few years in the areas of education, industrial training, and healthcare where the influence of instructional design could be beneficial. Educators have already been turning to immersive experiences for uses such as simulation, training, providing access to limited resources and to bridge distances as a form of remote learning (Kavanaugh et al., 2017). New educators and designers, however, often express a sense of being overwhelmed at the idea of designing instruction that would essentially be spherical (as in, surrounding the learner) and containing infinite potential (immersive experiences could contain any information or process). Unquestioningly, everyone feels that the design work is complex.

Regardless, there are still educators who, despite sudden platform shutdowns and expensive contracts, feel that immersive experiences have 'enormous unrealized potential’ (Wecker, 2014). The complexity of designing for the metaverse calls for assistance from instructional design that focuses on “instructional methods, specific features that facilitate actual learning” (Honebein & Reigeluth, 2023. p. 292). Unfortunately, heretofore immersive experiences have precipitated haphazard designs lacking guidance:

Education researchers borrow heavily from the entertainment designers, who focus on engagement, and not necessarily on retention of content. The dearth of studies highlights the urgency for a set of guidelines for designing content that allows users to make appropriate choices in a spherical space. (Johnson-Glenberg, 2018, p. 7)

Image source: https://publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com/2011/05/is-there-archaeology-in-pasteurs.html

 

Therefore, this series will begin with looking at the current state of immersive experiences for learning research. Published research however, often falls short of the mark. This series will contribute to both fundamental and practical applications (Shi & Evans, 2023), landing in Pasteur’s Quadrant as Mayer (2020) suggested, as “basic research in applied situations” (p. 22). This series draws from the body of published research in the form of a selective consumer; it discriminates seeking to understand the wise applications of immersive environments. Additionally, it addresses real problems faced by instructional designers and administrators. Staying grounded in reality will be very important as we journey into the research of virtual worlds. 

We will begin with some history, next post.

Part 2: The Immersive Environment Delusion

Part 3: The Case Against Virtual Campuses

Part 4: Myth: Learners Learn Faster

Part 5: Myth: Learners Learn More