Virtual reality as a tool for teaching library design

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Calvert, Philip

Affiliations: School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand | E-mail: [email protected]

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand. E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) offers potential for teaching and learning, though there seems to be no prior use of VR for teaching library and information science. This paper reports on a project that used VR for teaching library design, specifically for designing a library for customers with physical impairments. A survey and interviews were used to collect data. The results suggest that students prefer using VR to more traditional forms of learning because it makes physical problems seem more real than they would if presented in a book or video.

Keywords: Virtual reality, education of librarianship, evaluation of learning

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-170150

Journal: Education for Information, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 439-450, 2019