The VR Landscape in Education: A Non-Technical Guide for Researchers and Practitioners

In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as a pivotal technology in the field of education, offering immersive and interactive experiences that have the potential to significantly enhance teaching and learning processes. However, for educational designers, teachers, and lecturers who lack advanced information technology skills—particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence programming—identifying and evaluating suitable VR applications can be a complex and labor-intensive endeavor. This paper aims to provide an action-oriented overview of commercially available VR solutions relevant to the educational sector. The overview synthesizes critical information that would otherwise necessitate an extensive and fragmented search across various online platforms. This paper does not intend to present a comprehensive overview of all VR providers and applications. Rather, it serves as an initial guide, offering key insights for educational designers at the beginning of their projects. By structuring the initial research phase, it facilitates informed decision-making in the integration of VR technologies in educational contexts.