VR creation experience in cultural heritage education: A preliminary exploration

Abstract

Despite an increasing adoption of virtual reality (VR) in education, few studies have explored VR creation in cultural heritage education. This study aims to investigate students' experience of creating VR content featuring cultural heritage in an undergraduate general education course repurposed from a digital collection course. A survey was conducted with 87 students, collecting both close-ended and open-ended responses. A coding framework was designed to analyze students' open-ended responses. Preliminary findings show that students were largely satisfied with the experience, which helped learners from diverse academic backgrounds toward acquiring technological skills that are essential for the 21st century workforce. The VR creation experience also motivated the students to learn more about cultural heritage. Technical issues regarding spherical photo-taking and the online VR creation tool were identified, which may call for new alternative tools and devices. Findings offer empirical evidence on the value of integrating VR creation into cultural heritage education, as well as implications for pedagogical design and educational applications of VR creation.