Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

Abstract

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.

People
Veitch, Nicola
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

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Donald, Claire
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

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Judge, Andrew
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

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Carman, Christopher
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

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Scott, Pamela
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

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Taylor, Sonya
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

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Marks, Leah
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

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Edmond, Avril
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

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Kirkwood, Nathan
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

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McDonnell, Neil
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

McIntyre, Kirsty and Sherry, Leighann and Stapleton, Genevieve and Latkovskis, Imants and McDonnell, Neil and Nibbs, Rob and Douce, Gillian and Milling, Simon (2023) Can Virtual Reality (VR) enhance students’ learning experience? Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 11 (3). pp. 3-9. ISSN 2051-9788

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Macpherson, Fiona
Author

Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona (2025) Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy. Virtual Reality, 29: 38. ISSN 1359-4338

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Information
Title:
Experiential learning through virtual reality by-proxy
Creators:
Veitch, Nicola and Donald, Claire and Judge, Andrew and Carman, Christopher and Scott, Pamela and Taylor, Sonya and Marks, Leah and Edmond, Avril and Kirkwood, Nathan and McDonnell, Neil and Macpherson, Fiona
Identification Number:
10.1007/s10055-025-01106-3
Date:
8 February 2025
Divisions:
College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Philosophy
College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Molecular Biosciences
College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences
Publisher:
Springer
Additional Information:
FM and NM were funded by Innovate UK (grant number 104267) which was used to fund ‘Project Mobius’ to develop ten VR learning environments and the platform that they sit on.
Library
URI:
https://pub.demo35.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/50
Item Type:
Article
Depositing User:
Unnamed user with email ejo1f20@soton.ac.uk
Date Deposited:
11 Jun 2025 16:34
Revision:
31
Last Modified:
12 Jun 2025 12:47
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