Appraising occupational therapy students' perceptions of virtual reality as a pedagogical innovation

Virtual reality (VR) offers a forum for a person to immerse themselves in an artificial world. Despite the emergence of VR as a teaching tool, a strong base to understand the pedagogical impact of VR within post-secondary education is absent. Furthermore, there is minimal literature on how VR can be used pedagogically with medical and rehabilitation professional students. This pilot research project sought to answer “how do students perceive that VR should be used within occupational therapy curricula after trialling a variety of educational modules?” Study participants were Masters of Occupational Therapy Students who trialed four different educational modules using four different technological solutions. After each trial they completed a questionnaire specific to the learning and then completed an overall survey about how VR should be considered for future use in the curriculum. Findings showcased that students preferred a higher level of immersion and interaction. They showed less preference for the lower technological and less immersive learning opportunities. Students shared that they would welcome VR solutions to learn about assessment, anatomy and musculoskeletal function, neuroanatomy and neurological foundations and for cases as a preparation for clinical fieldwork experiences. Future research is required to evaluate the impact of a larger scale roll out of specific learning approaches.