Virtual and Augmented Reality, Application in Higher Education.

Abstract

Virtual reality is the representation of scenes or images of objects produced by a computer system, which gives the sensation of their real existence. In this sense, the main objective of this work is to analyze and investigate the way in which virtual and augmented reality have been constituted in an interactive scenario of learning in Ecuadorian higher education. To this end, the Technical University of Manabí and more specifically the Faculty of Humanistic and Social Sciences have been taken as a case study. From a quantitative, descriptive methodological approach and from a bibliographic-documentary approach, this study has investigated the knowledge about this technology and has assessed its usefulness in higher education. To this end, a survey was applied to 58 tenured professors of this academic unit. The analysis carried out has taken the teachers of this faculty as a perspective and the proposed time cut considered is the semester period between the months of October 2023 and February 2024. The results highlight the functioning of the virtual and augmented reality processes used in the Faculty of Humanistic Sciences, the difficulties in the use of these technologies, as well as their characteristics to improve the teaching and learning process. Factors related to usability and user experience were evaluated; including attractiveness, clarity, efficiency, manageability, stimulation and innovation. It is concluded with an analysis of this problem that there is a positive level in the valuation of the user experience and presents additional elements, potentially useful for educational institutions that evaluate the use of virtual and augmented reality as a support environment for their instructional processes.