Deep and meaningful e-learning with social virtual reality environments in higher education : a systematic literature review
Deep and meaningful e-learning with social virtual reality environments in higher education : a systematic literature review
Date
2021-03-09
Authors
Mystakidis, Stylianos
Berki, Eleni
Valtanen, Juri-Petri
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
Deep and meaningful learning (DML) in distant education should be an essential outcome of quality education. In this literature review, we focus on e-learning effectiveness along with the factors and conditions leading to DML when using social virtual reality environments (SVREs) in distance mode higher education (HE). Hence, a systematic literature review was conducted summarizing the findings from thirty-three empirical studies in HE between 2004 (appearance of VR) and 2019 (before coronavirus appearance). We searched for the cognitive, social, and affective aspects of DML in a research framework and studied their weight in SVREs. The findings suggest that the use of SVREs can provide authentic, simulated, cognitively challenging experiences in engaging, motivating environments for open-ended social and collaborative interactions and intentional, personalized learning. Furthermore, the findings indicate that educators and SVRE designers need to place more emphasis on the socio-cultural semiotics and emotional aspects of e-learning and ethical issues such as privacy and security. The mediating factors for DML in SVREs were accumulated and classified in the resultant Blended Model for Deep and Meaningful e-learning in SVREs. Improvement recommendations include meaningful contexts, purposeful activation, learner agency, intrinsic emotional engagement, holistic social integration, and meticulous user obstacle removal.
Description
Keywords
Metaverse, Education, e-Learning, Distance education, Online education, Virtual reality, Social virtual reality, Deep meaningful learning, Literature review