School students creating a virtual reality learning resource for children

There is increasing interest in shifting the focus of virtual reality (VR) in education from consumption activities to content creation where students can produce and share their own virtual environments. This paper reports on a pilot study where junior secondary science students created a 360° VR learning resource for primary (elementary) school students. The study used a mixed methodology, participatory research approach to explore learning outcomes for students. While technical set-up and time constraints affected the research, secondary students generally enjoyed the experience with the teacher observing good levels of engagement. The virtual environments produced by female students were graded higher than their male classmates. There was no increase in the content knowledge of primary school students after viewing the VR learning resource but most reported good systems usability. The pilot study indicated that having students create learning content for an authentic audience, such as younger students, is feasible with the potential to generate positive learning outcomes if organizational and time constraints can be addressed.