The application of VR in interior design education to enhance design effectiveness and student experience

Abstract

As Interior Design Education (IDE) evolves to meet increasingly complex and diverse demands, traditional teaching methods face limitations in areas such as design presentation, teacher–student interaction, and spatial perception, often leading to reduced learning effectiveness. Virtual Reality (VR), with its immersive and interactive features, offers promising solutions to these challenges. This study developed a VR-based interior design education platform incorporating Level of Detail (LOD) technology to improve instructional precision and learning outcomes. To systematically evaluate the teaching effectiveness, the study employed evaluation indicators grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), emphasizing perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as key dimensions influencing learners’ acceptance of VR technology. Specifically, content comprehensiveness, visual clarity, and spatial understanding were selected as core evaluation metrics reflecting these TAM constructs. An experimental comparison with traditional teaching methods assessed these dimensions. Results showed the VR-based approach significantly outperformed traditional methods, with higher average scores in comprehensiveness (90.68 ± 4.00 vs. 82.35 ± 2.20), visibility (91.08 ± 4.11 vs. 83.66 ± 3.85), and spatial effects (92.98 ± 3.22 vs. 85.64 ± 3.96). These findings highlight the advantages of LOD-enhanced VR teaching in improving clarity and interaction efficiency. Focus group interviews further confirmed its effectiveness in enhancing students’ understanding and communication.