Framework of Pedagogic and Usability Principles for Effective Multi-user VR Learning Applications

Education and learning continue to evolve as a result of the rapid speed of technological advancement in the 21st Century. The growing presence of emerging technologies increases the potential of an innovative environment that can promote and facilitate learning. The impact of immersive technology in the field of learning has been widely discussed and studied by the scientific community in the first two decades of the 21st Century. This is especially true with the advent of the ambition for the unified and fluid multi-user virtual world - Metaverse and the limiting realities of the COVID-19 pandemic - where new modes of virtual interaction are in the spotlight, including the field of education. The success of VR educational content, especially multi-user educational content, depends, in large part, on how usable and adaptable it is for learning purposes. This study investigates pedagogic and usability principles for effective multi-user VR learning applications based on the Technology Enhanced Learning approach, Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction model and Nielsen’s usability heuristics and analyses survey data collected during multi-user VR content testing. The study used a mixed-methods approach involving multi-user VR environment testing with a group of Higher Education students. This study tested three different VR multi-user learning applications to evaluate them from various pedagogical and usability perspectives and collected survey data to gain a deeper understanding of the students’ experience. This study proposes a framework of pedagogic and usability principles for developing effective multi-user VR learning applications.