Evaluation of a Virtual Campus in the Complexity of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Educational institutions are continually adapting to the new realities of education, recently accelerated by the transformation of complex learning modalities caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This chapter analyzes the acceptance by faculty and students of a web-based virtual reality (WebVR) tool called Virtual Campus (VC) used to overcome the limitations of teaching strategies mediated by videoconferencing platforms. To measure acceptance, we designed an instrument based on the Technology Acceptance Model that involves variables related to online contexts, the future perception of the use of the tool, the development of skills, and the assessment and recommendation. The results indicate that the participants favorably accepted WebVR technology as an alternative teaching methodology in emerging learning scenarios and have a predilection to continue using it. The best valued elements were the interactions in the socialization spaces, the simulation of presence and the environmental dynamics. The main areas of opportunity are related to overcoming technical problems and improving the quality of the Internet connection; however, this did not affect the recommendations of the participants. Future studies should incorporate variables related to learning analysis and use different methodological designs to compare results.