Empirical Analysis of Extended Reality Adoption in STEM Education: A Faculty-Centric Study Using Statistical and Predictive Modeling
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4301/S1807-1775202623005Palabras clave:
Extended Reality (XR), STEM education, faculty adoption, technology integration, predictive modelling, institutional support, data privacyResumen
Extended Reality (XR) - a combination of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies, is emerging as innovative tools in STEM education. XR technologies provide faculty and students with engaging and interactive teaching and learning experiences. However, the factor that is relatively less researched, but directly influences the successful integration of XR in higher education, i. e., faculty adoption, is overlooked. This study analyzes the factors influencing university faculty’s adoption and integration of XR in STEM education by focusing on four-dimensional factors. The contextual factors reviews institutional support and infrastructure of the academic institutions, individual factors examines digital literacy levels, and experience with XR for STEM faculty, social factors reviews the influence of peer collaboration and student feedback, and technological features examines the usability of XR tools and privacy concerns for the faculty and student data. Using a faculty-centric approach, a survey of 500 STEM faculty members was conducted and rigorous statistical analyses were employed, including independent t-tests, ANOVA, Chi-square tests, and multiple regression, to evaluate the impact of these factors. Results show that student feedback is the major factor influencing XR adoption, followed by institutional support and ease of use. Contrarily, data privacy concerns and digital literacy gaps are identified as major barriers to XR integration in STEM education. Based on the findings of the survey, the study outlines (1) the need for XR-based faculty training; the (2) need for increased institutional support; and (3) need for user-centric design of XR tools as the main considerations to enable effective use of XR in higher education. The results emphasize the need to factor both technical as well as social aspects facilitating a successful XR integration; thereby creating a foundation for potentially new and more interactive forms of pedagogy.
Citas
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