SUPERVISORs: mohammadreza farrokhnia & caiwei zho
Topic
Immersive virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in health‑professions education to provide safe, high‑fidelity practice environments. The Cognitive Affective Model of Immersive Learning (CAMIL) (Makransky & Petersen, 2021) offers a theory‑driven account of how VR may lead to learning by proposing that the medium’s core affordances (i.e., presence and agency) shape a set of cognitive and affective processes (e.g., situational interest, intrinsic motivation, self‑efficacy, embodiment, cognitive load, and self‑regulation) that, in turn, influence learning outcomes. While CAMIL is theoretically well‑specified, further empirical work is needed to test its proposed relationships in authentic educational contexts.
Petersen et al. (2022) have provided initial empirical evidence by disentangling immersion and interactivity and validating parts of CAMIL’s framework, particularly in distinguishing extraneous cognitive load as interaction versus environment. Building on this theoretical and empirical foundation, this project focuses on a VR application (Ok! Ready) used in a medical education course at UT on working in the operating room (OR). The aim is to examine how learners’ perceived presence and agency during the OR module relate to key mediating variables and to proximal learning indicators (e.g., aquired knowledge, confidence in OR tasks). By doing this, the study will examine the extent to which CAMIL’s pathways are supported in this domain and identify design‑relevant levers (e.g., interactivity or guidance features) to optimize VR‑based trainings.
Method
Participants: about 80 medical students in a course at UT using the Ok! Ready VR module.
Design: cross‑sectional survey after a standardized VR session (10–20 minutes).
Measures: a combination of variables proposed by the CAMIL framework, depending on the research question. Such as Multidimensional Cognitive Load Scale for Virtual Environments (MCLSVE) (Andersen & Makransky, 2021) for measuring cognitive load in VR environments.
Analysis: reliability checks, regression, and bootstrapped mediation/moderation analyses; simple group comparisons if relevant.
Pointers for research question(s)
- How do presence and agency influence medical students’ motivation, confidence, and perceived readiness for OR tasks?
- Do different types of extraneous cognitive load (interaction vs. environment) have distinct impacts on learning and engagement?
- Does embodiment in VR predict stronger transfer intentions and perceived applicability of OR knowledge?
- How do self‑regulation strategies during the VR session shape learning outcomes, and can they buffer against high cognitive load?
- Are there meaningful differences in learning pathways between students with prior VR/OR experience and complete novices?
- Which CAMIL pathways most strongly predict real‑world readiness indicators (e.g., teamwork confidence, stress management in OR scenarios)?
References
- Andersen, M. S., & Makransky, G. (2021). The validation and further development of a multidimensional cognitive load scale for virtual environments. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 37(1), 183-196. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12478
- Makransky, G., & Petersen, G. B. (2021). The cognitive affective model of immersive learning (CAMIL): A theoretical research-based model of learning in immersive virtual reality. Educational psychology review, 33(3), 937-958. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09586-2
- Petersen, G. B., Petkakis, G., & Makransky, G. (2022). A study of how immersion and interactivity drive VR learning. Computers & Education, 179, 104429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104429
If applicable, for this project these skills or requirements are necessary:
- Affinity for using VR in education.
- Competence in survey design, psychometrics, and data handling (e.g., SPSS, R).
- Experience with regression, mediation, and moderation analyses (preferably with bootstrapping) — or at least a willingness to invest time to learn.
- Strong coordination and communication skills for working with course faculty and student participants.