An extended technology acceptance model on immersive virtual reality use with primary school students

ABSTRACT

Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging technology with an increasing number of studies assessing its benefits in educational settings. However, there is a shortage of empirical studies aimed at evaluating the acceptance of this technology in primary education. The authors propose an extended version of the Technological Acceptance Model to examine students’ intention to use immersive VR. To this end, 111 fourth-graders completed a history teaching unit using immersive VR. Structural equation modelling was employed to assess causal relationships between six variables: prior knowledge, perceived attention, perceived utility, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment and attitude towards the use of immersive VR. The results indicate that students’ prior knowledge was not significant in explaining their intention to use immersive VR. However, perceived attention had a significant effect on this variable mediated through perceived utility. These results have important implications regarding the design and use of VR tools for educational purposes.

KEYWORDS:

• Virtual reality
• primary education
• history teaching
• technology acceptance model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Castilla-La Mancha and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) [grant number 2022-GRIN-34039], by the Castilla-La Mancha Regional Administration [grant number SBPLY/19/180501/000278], and by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR [grant number TED2021-131557B-100].

Notes on contributors

Rafael Villena-Taranilla

Rafael Villena-Taranilla is a primary teacher in San Cristóbal school (Albacete), where he is the Coordinator of the Longlife Learning Programme and digital transformation. He is also a part-time lecturer at University of Camilo José Cela (Spain). His research interests include virtual reality, augmented reality, gamification and educational robotics.

Ramón Cózar-Gutiérrez

Ramón Cózar-Gutiérrez is a lecturer of the Department of History at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. He is co-leader of the research group LabinTic at the Faculty of Education of Albacete. His research fields in education address the teaching and learning of social sciences, teacher training and educational technology.

José Antonio González-Calero

José Antonio González-Calero is currently a lecturer at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. He is co-leader of the research group LabinTic at the Faculty of Education of Albacete. His research interests include educational technology and the development and implementation of interactive learning environments.

Pascual D. Diago

Pascual D. Diago is a lecturer at the University of València. He is currently teaching on the degree courses of Early Childhood Education and Primary Education and on the master’s degree in research in Specific Didactics. His research focuses on problem-solving and the use of new technologies in the teaching-learning processes of school mathematics.