Find the apartment's flaws! The impact of virtual reality on vocational students' performance in general education classes and the roles of flow experience, motivation, and sense of presence

Technological advancements are rapidly transforming education, particularly immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR). Despite extensive research on VR’s potential to enhance learning, its effectiveness in vocational education and training (VET) remains underexplored. This study evaluates the performance of VET students using a VR environment compared with a desktop computer-based approach. In 2023, a quasi-experimental study with a randomized controlled trial design was conducted with 81 participants from a Swiss vocational school. Following an instruction of how to identify housing defects, the participants were required to identify the defects in a virtual apartment and communicate them verbally by thinking aloud. Various statistical tests were employed to specifically analyze the collected data and evaluate the effects of VR on the students’ performance in addition to the roles of sense of presence, motivation, and flow experience. The findings indicated that using VR with head-mounted displays led to a notable enhancement in performance when compared with the desktop approach. Motivation and sense of presence were identified as critical factors for improving outcomes. The study also revealed a complex relationship between sense of presence and performance, with neither motivation nor flow experience acting as direct mediators. These findings contribute to our understanding of the impact of VR on VET learning outcomes and provide insights for future research and practice. However, further investigation is needed to elucidate the advantages and intricacies of incorporating immersive technologies into educational settings.