Students often experience stress and fear when presenting in class and receiving feedback by the teacher or peer. Two recent higher education studies aimed to investigate the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) for practicing presentations and receiving feedback in order to support students with overcoming this fear. In one of these studies (UU), students received feedback by peers and/or the teacher after a presentation (‘pleading’) practice in a VR court room. In the other study (HU), students received automated feedback messages after presenting in a VR classroom setting, which was compared to receiving automated feedback provided by a teacher. In both studies, students provided a real-life presentation in similar settings, assessed by experts, after the VR practice. Both studies aimed to investigate the impact of the VR presentation task on students’ stress/anxiety levels and competences.

Aim and research question

What effects have presenting and receiving feedback in virtual reality presentation tasks on students’ anxiety levels and/or arousal in higher education?

Set-up and method

Stress affects our degree of confidence. Therefore, in the study of the UU, a (validated) questionnaire was used to measure the confidence over time (beginning, after VR and after the course) (n=66). Besides, physiological instruments were used to measure electrodermal activity and heart rate while presenting in VR (n=27). In the study of the HU, public speaking anxiety was measured using (validated) questionnaires at two moments (beginning and end of the experiment, n = 60).

(Preliminary) results

The results of the UU study showed significant increases in electrodermal activity and heart rate while presenting in VR. Interestingly, a significant average increase in reported confidence after the VR practice was established. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found between reflective thinking due to the VR task and confidence at the end of the course. Both constructs of confidence and perceived competence were significantly correlated. In line, the results of the study of the HU demonstrated a significant reduction in anxiety, from pre-test to post-test, irrespective of the feedback source.

Conclusion

Public speaking is a common source of stress for higher education students. The present findings highlight the effectiveness of VR for creating simulations that are perceived as a real-life ‘fearful’ situations, supporting experiential learning. Moreover, combining a VR practice with feedback seems to be effective for reducing stress and fear. However, while both studies showed positive improvements in confidence and/or anxiety levels after the VR presentation tasks, it remains questionable what the exact role of the provided feedback has been.

References

• L. De Grez, Optimizing the Instructional Environment to Learn Presentation Skills (diss. Gent).
• S. van Ginkel et al., ‘Fostering Oral Presentation Competence through a Virtual Reality-Based Task for Delivering Feedback’, Computers & Education 134 (2019).
• D. Kolb, Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development, 2nd ed., Pearson Education 2015.