Virtual Reality In Higher Education: An Experience With Medical Students: Research into how Virtual Reality can be used as a powerful training tool for medicine students

Abstract

COVID-19 has changed how students access to information. In the next years, higher education should increase the number of virtual contents and Virtual Reality is a the best way to achieve it, as it offers a way to access classrooms, get interactive and immersive content and even evaluate the students. This project is born from the exploration of the educational possibilities of Virtual Reality in higher education. Therefore, the objective of this study is to validate the use of the VR platform "Medical Studium" for the teaching-learning process of medical students. For the evaluation a sample of 19 students have been selected from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Salamanca (Spain), using both quantitative and qualitative data. Objective evidence and a questionnaire have been used as a data collection instrument. The results show that it helps them to better study some concepts that may seem difficult for students, as well as how to solve the limitation problems they have regarding the training of surgical operations. In addition, students are more motivated thanks to interaction with virtual and immersive content and they can reproduce a lesson as many times as they need. These findings can mean a change in both teaching and learning, as it is an improvement for students in their practical training.