Virtual Reality in Schools: The Need for Teacher Training

SUMMARY

Using virtual reality (VR) to enhance children's learning is a recent idea, but interest is growing rapidly. Increasing numbers of teachers in the USA, Europe and elsewhere are embracing this new medium and exploring ways of using it to enhance learning in schools. VR in education is becoming a prominent feature at major conferences on computing. There are, however, very few reports of the use of VR in schools being addressed in teacher training. This paper will argue that although the field is new, and much more research is needed to test key assumptions, VR has such strong potential for classrooms that it will inevitably become a common tool in the not‐too‐distant future. Furthermore, its growing popularity in entertainment, and expansion on the World Wide Web, coupled with the increase in home access to computer networks, indicates that children will soon be much more familiar with VR than their teachers.