by

Dr. David Passig

Aviva Sharbat

Virtual-reality has been defined as a highly interactive, computer-based, sensory experience by using computer graphics, sounds, and images to reproduce electronic versions of real-life situations. The sensation is like being inside an artificial world the computer has created. VR can provide alternative and interactive learning environments.

In this research we offered a group of experts who are involved in VR and education an opportunity to take part in an on-line, future oriented discussion with iterative feedback through e-mail concerning the rationale of using VR in schools in the future. This research was conducted with 50 world-wide experts from the U.S, Canada, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Australia, New Zealand and, and Venezuela.

The purpose of the research was to reach an agreement concerning the future of VR in schools, which is both preferable and possible.

In this research we used a version of the Delphi methodology called “Imen-Delphi” (ID) technique (Passig 1993, 1996a, 1997). The Imen-Delphi (the ability to emerge is in me) is best described as a procedure for eliciting and refining group opinions about their future. The ID is an exercise for structuring the communication process of a group, which allows the group to effectively learn experts’ forecasts, deal with some of their concerned future complex problems, generate new future images, establish common ground, and determine a communal future working mission. It is best described as a responsibility, self-awareness, and concept enhancement procedure. The phrase "images of the future" represents a fundamental concept advanced by future research. It represents people's perceptions, insights, thoughts, ideas, feelings, and intuitions about the future.

In this research we have implemented an Imen-Delphi procedure to improve the efficiency of the participants to invent change and develop future images, regarding educational VR. The participants developed a set of preferred future mission statements for future developers. This procedure included three rounds. In the first round, we provided the participants with a number of "intellectual-teasers". They were asked to submit questions around the teasers for the purpose of formulating the questionnaire. In the second round, the participants answered the questionnaire - the result of their common efforts. The third round consisted of “mission-statements” that were drafted from the second round’s answers. These future mission statements were sent to the participants for evaluation and judgement. Based on the number of future images generated by the participants and the quality of their recommendations, this procedure effectively translated the participants' conceptual approach to the future into highly organized, clearly focused, and mission-oriented solutions.

The results indicate that the perceptions, and images of the future held by the participants point to a striking transformation of the perceived role they would like to designate to future developers of VR materials for use in the curricula. They would like to see their role shifting from providers of supplementary teaching aides to primary providers of a variety of new and alternative classroom structures, learning styles, and cognitive skills. The mutually agreed upon concepts and mission statements regarding the use of VR in schools point to a new pedagogy that needs to be addressed by developers, users, scholars and teachers.