A Survey of Future Teachers Suggests Cautious Openness to VR and Humanoid Robot Use

One potential application for increasingly capable virtual reality and humanoid robots is enhancing classroom engagement, problem-solving, and social-emotional learning. To evaluate future educators’ readiness to implement these technologies, 25 future elementary teachers were surveyed on their attitudes towards robots, generalized self-efficacy, social and emotional learning competencies, and attitudes towards virtual reality and robots in education. Results indicate ambivalent personal level attitudes towards robots and negative societal level attitudes toward robots. Respondents rated their competencies highly, but their attitudes towards VR and robots in the classroom suggest that while they see potential in these technologies, they do not feel adequately informed or prepared to implement them or see robots as empathetic. Future teachers do not feel an immediate need for these technologies and would require appropriate training and support. Future work should explore specific uses of these technologies, their effects on classrooms, and the nature of support teachers would need.