Immersive virtual reality in education: impact on the emotional intelligence of university students

At present, when the educational process takes place both in classrooms and remotely, the role of innovative technologies is rapidly increasing. The purpose of the study is to determine the influence of immersive virtual reality in teaching on predictors of emotional intelligence development in university students. The questionnaire method was used in the work. In this study, the experimental group utilized immersive virtual reality based on SV-IVR videos, while the control group underwent instruction through traditional methods. According to the Self-Emotional Appraisal, the experimental group showed higher post-test values compared with the control group. In Others’ Emotional Appraisal, the experimental group also showed a significant increase in post-test results, compared with the control group. These results indicate that VR training improves the assessment of other people’s emotions and positively affects the self-assessment of emotions. As for the Use of Emotions, the experimental group and the control group showed a slight increase in post-test results. Final data on the Regulation of Emotions in the experimental group were higher in the post-test compared to the control group. The significant difference between the post-testing indicators of the two groups highlights the positive impact of VR training on the regulation of emotions. Adequate teaching methods, particularly incorporating innovative technologies (virtual reality), have the potential to enhance and cultivate emotional intelligence among students. The need for additional scientific research on a specific issue lies in the importance of organizing, summarizing, and validating the effectiveness of training future university teachers to incorporate virtual reality into their classes.