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Second Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education pp 955–966Cite as

Educational Opportunities for Immersive Virtual Reality

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Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of immersive virtual environments (IVE) in education with an emphasis on immersive virtual reality (IVR). A companion chapter in this volume focuses on a second type of IVE called augmented reality (AR). First, definitions are provided, focusing on concepts such as immersion, fidelity, presence, and simulations. Second, a review of research is presented for IVR that highlights the current and potential impact in PreK-12, higher education, and professional development settings. Findings suggest the use of IVR can lead to increased engagement. However, the synthesis also points to a relative dearth of published research for PreK-12 implementation. The chapter ends with a call for future research looking at key areas like special needs, potential negative long-term effects, training for teachers and students, and exploration of key concepts like embodied cognition, computational thinking, self-tracking, spatial reasoning, and situational/individual interests within IVE.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Learning Technologies, RCET, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA

    Richard E. Ferdig

  2. Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA

    Enrico Gandolfi & Zachary Immel

Authors
  1. Richard E. Ferdig
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  2. Enrico Gandolfi
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  3. Zachary Immel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard E. Ferdig .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Joke Voogt

  2. University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

    Gerald Knezek

  3. University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

    Rhonda Christensen

  4. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Kwok-Wing Lai

Section Editor information

  1. Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    David Gibson

  2. Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Hiroaki Ogata

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Ferdig, R.E., Gandolfi, E., Immel, Z. (2018). Educational Opportunities for Immersive Virtual Reality. In: Voogt, J., Knezek, G., Christensen, R., Lai, KW. (eds) Second Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education . Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71054-9_66

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