Technological Factors, User Characteristics and Didactic Strategies in Educational Virtual Environments

Technological factors, user characteristics and didactic strategies do not function consistently across Educational Virtual Environments. This study investigates the impact of viewing condition and didactic strategy on attention allocation, suspension of disbelief, spatial presence, and learning outcomes in an Educational Virtual Environment concerning ancient Greek pottery. Our results show that the viewing condition does not affect attention allocation, suspension of disbelief, and spatial presence. Learning outcomes are better in the monoscopic viewing condition. Didactic strategy has an impact on suspension of disbelief and learning outcomes. Domain specific interest associates with higher level of attention allocation and spatial presence, while spatial presence is not related to learning outcomes. More research is needed in order to identify the role of each one of the above factors in Educational Virtual Environments.