| dc.description.abstract |
This dissertation aims to integrate motivational support into immersive virtual reality (VR) to enhance its effectiveness in science education. VR is considered a unique multimedia learning tool that affords students the possibility to experience and interact with the learning content in a unique way. From a hedonic perspective, the embedded visual representations and images, narrations, and interactive elements in VR can foster students’ motivation (e.g., interest, enjoyment, and engagement), which can positively affect their learning outcomes. From a utilitarian perspective, VR offers unique affordances that traditional classroom teaching cannot and places students at the center of the learning process, thus facilitating the learning of complex concepts that can otherwise be too abstract or difficult to learn. However, despite its unique character, VR’s effectiveness as a learning tool has not yet been established. In this regard, a growing number of empirical studies suggest that VR positively affects students’ interest, motivation, and presence in the virtual learning environment but does not necessarily lead to better academic achievement. One of the reasons often presented to explain these mixed results is that the embedded hedonic elements in virtual learning simulations—which are supposed to enhance students’ motivation—can also distract students, cause overstimulation, and increase cognitive load. Moreover, many currently available virtual learning simulations fail to incorporate instructional and motivational support.
According to the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML), students’ motivation plays a fundamental role in learning with multimedia; it fosters generative processing, which is the processing capacity required for students to make sense of the lesson content. At the same time, it has been shown that embedded motivational features (interactions, vivid simulations, and visual representations) and seductive details in VR (interesting elements that are irrelevant for the learning objectives) can take students’ attention away from their learning goals and thus impede effective learning in VR. Hence, the fundamental question is how to keep students focused on their learning goals and engaged in effective processing of the learning content—consequently mitigating the possible negative effects of the hedonic elements on their learning performance. It has been argued that the integration of motivational support into the instructional design of virtual learning simulations (hereafter referred to as the integrative approach) can facilitate appropriate cognitive processing of the learning content. This is because motivation and cognition are directly or indirectly linked, and motivation is an important driving force behind students’ behaviors (e.g., actions and interactions) and mental processes (e.g., attention, selection, organization, and integration of relevant learning content into prior knowledge).
On the basis of the CTML and the integrative approach, this dissertation proposes that VR’s effectiveness can be enhanced when motivational cues are integrated into immersive learning environments. The concept of motivation in this dissertation is grounded in two other theoretical perspectives: the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the expectancy-value theory (EVT). Both theoretical perspectives foreground the role of motivation in learning and have practical implications for both the traditional classroom and multimedia learning tools. The TAM is the most parsimonious and widely used model to study and predict students’ attitudes towards multimedia learning tools. The TAM stipulates that students’ perceived usefulness of a given multimedia learning tool such as VR is the most important predictor of its acceptance—in terms of intention to use the learning tool—which constitutes a fundamental prerequisite for its effectiveness. In the classroom setting, EVT also highlights the role of students’ perceived usefulness of the learning activities for their learning performance. Notably, empirical research based on EVT has shown that classical usefulness interventions help to stimulate achievement-related behavior and improve learning outcomes. Most importantly, a large body of research on EVT provides clear and parsimonious methods on how to affect students’ motivation positively.
Following this rationale, this dissertation pursues the following three main objectives: The first objective is to test whether integrating classical usefulness interventions (a learning usefulness or a daily-life usefulness intervention) into a virtual learning environment could also enhance VR’s effectiveness. The second is to investigate whether students’ acceptance of VR as a learning tool can be increased through motivational interventions and whether acceptance subsequently fosters students’ learning experience in VR (e.g., perceived presence in VR) and enhances their affective and cognitive learning outcomes. The third is to examine to what extent such usefulness interventions affect students’ visual attention and cognitive processing of the lesson content. To address these objectives, this dissertation applies an experimental approach in three studies and uses multimodal methods (e.g., self-report paper-pencil tests, integrated questionnaires in VR, knowledge tests, and eye-tracking analysis). The data (N = 196) used in these studies were collected from 10 different German high schools (academic track).
This dissertation’s original contribution to the field is threefold: First, it considers the use of VR in education from a hedonic and utilitarian perspective and shows that the integration of motivational support into learning instruction in VR can help increase VR’s effectiveness. By using a classical motivational approach (usefulness interventions) to operationalize motivation, it also demonstrates that such parsimonious interventions can also be applied in the context of learning with VR. Second, contrary to almost all studies on TAM, this dissertation uses an experimental approach to test the assumptions of this model. Correspondently, it shows that a learning usefulness intervention can, in fact, increase students’ acceptance of VR as a learning tool, which subsequently affects their learning experience in VR. Third, using an eye-tracking-based approach, it shows that integrating motivation support into the virtual learning simulation positively affects how students process the learning content in VR: The usefulness interventions have a positive effect on students’ visual attention and cognitive processing of the lesson content in VR.
From a theoretical perspective, this dissertation supports the integrative approach, according to which the integration of motivation into multimedia learning is fundamental for effective processing of the learning content and provides some evidence concerning the role of motivational support in students’ learning performance in VR. From a practical and educational perspective, this dissertation shows how a parsimonious usefulness intervention can be integrated effectively into virtual simulations and how students’ perception of VR— perceived usefulness and acceptance of VR as a learning tool—can be promoted. This dissertation also provides educators with valuable insights regarding the need for students to be pedagogically prepared and aware of the usefulness of educational tools before using them for learning and teaching purposes. Thereby, this dissertation contributes to our understanding regarding the importance of students’ motivation in learning with VR and how it can enhance VR’s effectiveness in science education. |
en |
