Exploring virtual reality as a platform for distance team-based learning

Abstract

Background and purpose: Online distance education has become popular in pharmacy education, but it can be challenging to provide engaging experiences such as team-based learning (TBL) in this format. This study explored the utility of virtual reality (VR) as a platform to provide the engaging elements of TBL, without students needing to be physically present in the same room.

Educational activity and setting: Volunteers participated in a modified TBL exercise in VR, followed by a survey of the experience. The survey included Likert-type questions to evaluate the level of immersion and perceived engagement, comfort and desirability of VR-TBL experiences.

Findings and discussion: The majority of the responses to the 14-question survey were 'agree' or 'strongly agree'. Ninety-four percent (94.4%) of participants strongly agreed that this was a fun experience, and 94.4% of participants strongly agreed that they would take a course in this format if it was offered. Although none of the questions received a majority of 'disagree' or 'strongly disagree' responses, areas for improvement included ease of use of the technology, comfort and improving the learning activity.

Summary: The response of participants to this study was positive and the overall conclusion was that VR has the potential to be a useful tool for online, distance TBL, and should be explored further.

Keywords: Distance learning; Online learning; Team based learning; Virtual reality.