Barriers to VR use in HE

Abstract

VR promises revolutionary changes in the levels of immersion that users can experience, and if applied successfully in educational contexts this deep immersion could have significant effects on both teaching and learning. To utilise VR effectively in the higher education (HE) space, there must be some consideration given to what might prevent the use of VR in this sector and why these barriers exist—and how they can be mitigated against. Based on an extensive research project involving qualitative interviews with 21 VR makers and designers in autumn 2017, following a thematic analysis of the interview data, this paper identifies 5 major barriers to the uptake of VR in a wider cultural sense and in a specific, educa- tional context. These identified barriers are: the materiality of VR and issues with headsets and cables; interfaces within VR and issues with haptic technology; the ‘language of VR’ and the difficulty in communicating the benefits of VR; cybersickness and gender issues with VR use, and, the cost of VR. The preparation of educational VR materials requires an acknowledgement of these sometimes-concealed barriers to VR use, and it is proposed that through knowledge-transfer and sharing of best practice the use of VR in higher education could become a model of best practice for designing inclusive VR experiences that avoid major barriers to participation in VR.