It works! The VR exam improved students’ performance
Read how training in Virtual Reality taught occupational therapy students how to tackle their nervousness, resulting in a significantly better performance at their exam. The article is based on a scientific study conducted by the University of Alberta (UofA) in Canada.
Virtual training course
UofA experienced a large number of their students were frustrated in their student lives due to high levels of performance pressure. They therefore developed a virtual training course targeting the exam situation, which was then tested on occupational therapy students.
Throughout their studies, occupational therapy students have an especially anxiety-provoking exam; the practical clinic exam. Here students must examine and assess a patient in front of their teacher and an external examiner.
A group of students were therefore given the opportunity to practice this exam on an animated Avatar, a patient, in virtual reality. Their teacher and the external examiner were also present to assess their performance.
Impressive results through VR
The results were quite noteworthy. Students who had undergone the training course in VR had, compared to the control group, experienced and shown much more calmness. This allowed them to perform significantly better at the physical exam than the control group.
Virtual Reality is primarily used in the gaming world. Now people are experiencing great success using it as a learning and training tool within the educational and the healthcare systems.
At StudyMind, we have developed a completely new virtual concept, where students can train themselves mentally and academically stronger for oral presentations and exams. The purpose is to help students improve academic communication and reduce performance pressure.
You can read more about the concept here:https://www.studymind.com/
