Immersive technologies in school education: based on the results of the All-Russian Testing Program

Abstract

Introduction. Despite the widespread use of virtual reality technologies in entertainment and the emergence of a variety of educational products, these technologies have not yet become part of the Russian educational space. The use of such technologies is still insufficiently studied both from the psychological, pedagogical, methodological side, and the product side. The purpose of the article is to identify and describe the structure of expectations of the Russian pedagogical community from educational products developed on the basis of virtual and augmented reality technologies. Materials and methods. The article presents the program stages of testing educational software for virtual and augmented reality by the NTI VR/AR Center of Far Eastern Federal University from October 2020 to May 2021. The study involved more than 1,000 schools as testers from 51 Russian regions; 23 educational programs were tested. 445 feedback forms from teachers were analyzed using a Google form. Methods of mathematical statistics: descriptive (percentages, graphical representation of data). The results of the study. The following expectations of the pedagogical community from the educational software in virtual and augmented reality have been identified: compliance with the curriculum and the Federal Educational Standards; ease in use; achievements of new educational results; high student engagement and interactivity; transfer of monotonous methodological functions from the teacher to the software; preservation of meaningful methodological functions for the teacher. According to the respondents, the main advantages of VR are students' positive attitude (46%), utility (42%), user-friendliness (33%), pedagogical potential (32%), and thorough methodology (19%). Conclusion. The results of the study will be useful both for the developers of the educational content and for the teachers who start implementing VR/AR technologies in the educational process. It is important to create methodological materials with the software and to improve technical literacy among schoolteachers. It is expected that the recommendations received by the development companies during the implementation of the testing program of the NTI Center will serve as a powerful impetus to the development of the market of educational services in the field of new technologies.