Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy.
Nicola Veitch, Claire Donald, Andrew Judge, Christopher Carman, Pamela Scott, Sonya Taylor, Leah Marks, Avril Edmond, Nathan Kirkwood, Neil McDonnell, Fiona Macpherson
Author Information
Nicola Veitch: School of Infection and Immunity, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland. ORCID
Claire Donald: School of Infection and Immunity, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
Andrew Judge: School of Social and Political Sciences, College of Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
Christopher Carman: School of Social and Political Sciences, College of Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
Pamela Scott: School of Molecular Biosciences, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
Sonya Taylor: School of Molecular Biosciences, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
Leah Marks: School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
Avril Edmond: School of Molecular Biosciences, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
Nathan Kirkwood: Glasgow, Scotland.
Neil McDonnell: School of Humanities, College of Arts, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
Fiona Macpherson: Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience, Philosophy, School of Humanities, College of Arts, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly being used as a teaching and learning tool, however scaling this technology is difficult due to technological and cost considerations. An alternative approach that helps to address these problems is VR-by-proxy, where teaching takes place within a VR environment that is controlled by one lecturer and broadcast to students online. This allows the content to be accessed without specialist equipment while still offering an immersive and interactive experience. Taking advantage of the enforced move to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study evaluates the implementation of a novel VR-by-proxy disease diagnostic laboratory VR simulation within an undergraduate life sciences course in a higher education setting. Student participants were randomly allocated into two groups: the test group, who took part in a VR-by-proxy lesson; and a control group, who worked with interactive online lab manual material. We assessed improvement in learning and enjoyment through questionnaires before and after these tasks and collected qualitative data on student attitudes towards VR through focus groups. Our results indicate that although there is no observable difference in learning outcomes between the two groups, students in the test group reported an improved learning experience, confidence and enjoyment of learning. In our focus groups, confidence was understood in two ways by participants: firstly, as 'understanding' of the various steps involved in conducting a quantitative polymerase chain reaction experiment and secondly as a more general 'familiarity' with the laboratory setting. This study adds to the growing body of research into the effectiveness of VR for learning and teaching, highlighting that VR-by-proxy may provide many of the same benefits. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10055-025-01106-3.
