Design of a Virtual Laboratory Based on Virtual Reality for Learning Resources in Early Childhood Learning

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the world of education and universities, including the Open University’s Early Childhood Education study program. Because the number of students taking this course is very large at all levels, at the beginning of the pandemic, there were problems in the online learning media courses and kindergarten learning resources. It was recognized that there was a need to create a forum in the Early Childhood Education study program, namely a virtual learning laboratory program for the pandemic and post-pandemic period. It was identified that this program should use virtual reality, so that students can surf the lab in cyberspace as if they were there, with media and learning resources that are adapted to the culture of the Indonesian people and others, so that students are more independent in their learning. The ADDIE R&D model was used in this study (analysis, design, develop, implementation and evaluation). The needs were first analyzed and then the virtual reality lab product was developed, which included media for kindergarten courses and other learning resources, especially about educational game tools. This was validated by learning material experts and learning media experts with scores of 91 and 94, respectively. Keywords: design, virtual laboratory, virtual reality, independent learning