Technical Details and Educational Applications for Virtual Reality Technologies

The application of virtual reality (VR) in higher education has drawn attention. Understanding the state of the art for VR technologies helps educators identify appropriate applications and develop a high-quality engaging teaching-learning process. This chapter provides a comprehensive survey of current hardware and software supports on VR. Secondly, important technical metrics in VR technology are considered with comparisons of different VR devices using identified metrics. Third, there is a focus on software tools and an explore of various development frameworks, which facilitate the implementation of VR applications. With this information as a foundation, there is a VR use in higher education. Finally, there is a discussion of VR applications that can be potentially used in education.