”A student’s heaven” – using Virtual Reality in undergraduate Nursing bioscience units in Murdoch University’s new Digital Immersive Lab

Boola Katitjin, awarded “World’s Best Academic Building” in 2023 by the World Architectural Festival, features various interactive and collaborative cutting-edge technology, including a custom Digital Immersive Lab designed for large-scale Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) educational sessions. The use of this technology is increasingly valued in education for its cost-effective, resource-saving, and engaging qualities, and is supported by learning theories like implicit learning, model learning, and constructivism. However, the shift to educational technology also aligns with connectivism, a framework where learners and educators collaboratively interact, and knowledge is accessible beyond the individual.

Various real-world applications of the Lab’s immersive, collaborative and hybrid technologies included Forensics, Veterinary Medicine, Exercise Science and Engineering. A major trial with first-year Nursing students used VR in addition to traditional anatomy labs to address challenges in bioscience education, including high failure rates, concept comprehension difficulties, heavy unit content, and limited resources. The implementation was made possible by close cooperation between a learning technologist and the unit coordinator. The aim was to assess VR’s impact on learning satisfaction, immersion, and student perceptions, as well as to compare it to cadaver labs. Tutors and technical staff also provided insights on the factors facilitating or hindering VR integration.

Utilising a mixed-methods case study approach with online surveys and focus groups, preliminary findings suggest high satisfaction with VR, which students described as engaging and interactive, fostering active learning. However, issues such as cybersickness, content saturation, and logistical challenges in coordinating sessions across two campuses were noted. Effective knowledge acquisition appeared to be enhanced when VR was integrated with structured guidance and used as a complementary modality rather than a standalone tool.

This study also contributes to a new theoretical framework for implementing VR in bioscience education within a connectivist environment, though limited VR applications for biosciences currently exist. Developing and evaluating additional VR software will be crucial in broadening the potential of this transformative educational tool.