Olika Moila

By Olika Moila, Andile Mji and Sibongile Simelane-Mnisi

Globally, academics have reconnoitered the various benefits of virtual reality (VR) in education. This study explored the lecturers’ experiences with VR resources in teaching and learning environments with pre-service teachers at one of the selected universities in South Africa. The study engaged a qualitative method, comprising of semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 6 lectures. The data from the interviews were evaluated by hand and the findings from this study were precisely described as given by the interviewees. These findings specified that the lecturers acknowledged the effectiveness of the use of VR resources in teaching and learning since all activities become more concrete., However, the lecturers indicated that there were some challenges that hindered them from employing VR resources into their teaching and learning environments and these included a lack of adequate lecturer development for the use of VR tools for teaching; inadequate VR tools for teaching and learning in their departments; VR resources were not tailor-made for their current curricula; and inadequate funding for 4IR resources. Hence, this study recommended that this university should immediately provide all the support required to facilitate the lecturers’ use of VR resources for teaching to avoid the use traditional teaching and learning methods.

Part of the book: Augmented Reality and Its Application