Evaluating Students Experiences in VR Case-Studies of Information Systems Problem-Based Teaching

Abstract

Information systems (IS) is inherently an applied research discipline. Therefore much of the teaching in IS uses problem-based approaches that are highly reliant on case-study analysis and discussion. One of the few drawbacks of using case-studies with undergraduate students, is their difficulty in relating to professional environments and contexts of which they completely lack experience of. Understanding professional work in real organizations is fundamental in much of IS thinking and development. This paper designed and developed a VR case-study application that allowed the virtual visit of an organization mentioned in a case-study. And then, we conducted an experiment evaluation of the whole application done with 30 students taking a bachelor degree in IS. Eventually, we discussed the results of this evaluation and provides recommendations for future development using this type of technology. This study proved to be very popular with students and enabled a more immersive and physical understanding of a complex professional environment as well as permitting visit of the different organizational spaces and interaction with non-person characters (NPCs) (managers and systems users) that are part of the case study.