Is It Real? - Learners' Perceptions on Tele-Immersive 3D Video Technology and Its Further Use in K-12 Education

Current immersive technology applications, such as virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), are still limited in providing an immersive experience in which a user is perceived in 3 dimensions (3D) as their real self. Furthermore, research on such immersive environments applied to educational contexts is scarce. To investigate the unexplored opportunities of immersive technologies in education, we carried out a trial of our tele-immersive platform (TIP) with elementary school 6th grade learners (12-13-year-olds) working on an environmental study lesson. During our investigations, we applied qualitative analysis of the learners' focus group interview, researchers' field notes, and recordings of test sessions, alongside descriptive statistics of questionnaires. Learners expressed feelings of positive surprise and excitement, and felt the technology enabled their participation throughout the lesson. Learners recounted feelings of 'being there' inside the environment, and in the company of the teacher. Learners agreed that their sense of physical proximity and presence inside the immersive environment is similar to that of face-to-face interaction with the teacher. With our investigations, the opportunities of this emerging technology towards boosting online educational activities for learners to develop their 21C skills are highlighted. Our findings indicate that the introduced 3D TIP technology has the critical potential to overcome psychological strains due to physical distance in online education.