The Influence of Virtual and Augmented Reality on the Spatial Performance and Academic Achievement of Learners: A Review

Abstract

The vast development in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) showed a magnificent impact of these technologies on the spatial performance of learners as well as their academic achievement. While the literature reported lots of empirical evidence on the substantial impact of AR and VR in the educational context, this paper addressed that the past academic works did not report which technology showed the higher degree of improvement on the spatial performance of learners and academic achievement. Hence, this study analyzes this relationship and present a new perspective on the influence of these technologies on developing the learning process in various fields of education. The outcome shows that despite VR is an efficient technology and provide good tools for spatial memory rehabilitation programs, e.g., patients and students, but it does not give the same improvement on spatial performance of learners as AR do. Therefore, spatial performance of learners can be described as VR less effective than AR. Given AR established more advantages compared to VR, this study claims that AR/VR-based experimental model may be able to reduce this gap and give developers of virtual classrooms a better perspective on the realism of VR and AR in education.