Immersive Learning: A Comparative Study of Architectural Student Perception Between Virtual Reality and Traditional Learning Environments
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The integration of Virtual Reality with architectural education has increased the need to evaluate its effectiveness and its impact locally. This research aims to measure the effectiveness of virtual reality in local architectural education on students' presence and learning experience, identifying limitations within the scope of the case study, and emphasizing areas that need improvement. The Research question (To what extent can Virtual Reality enhance architecture students’ presence and learning experience, along with data on the current situation in Iraq?), also the hypothesis was proposed: learning through virtual reality enhances student presence more than traditional methods. It depends on a comparative mixed-methods approach, including a theoretical stage to develop evaluation indicators, and experimental stage by comparative method in which architecture students were divided to group (A) were taught through traditional methods, while (B) were taught through Virtual Reality. The findings showed that learning through VR enhanced presence compared with traditional methods. The presence revealed a higher meaning for the (B) group (4.33) than for the (A) group (3.33), indicating a disparity between the two learning approaches. In addition, the two groups expressed a preference for VR integration, with an average score of 4.81. The research also identified integration challenges, including technological readiness and managing user-related issues. Finally, this study recommended that curricula in architectural education incorporate virtual experiences supported by laboratories provided with the infrastructure and technologies for VR-based learning, adopting a mixed learning model that blends traditional teaching with VR methods.
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