Investigating the Educational Capabilities of Virtual Reality Technology Based on the Evaluation of Visual Perception Components

Since virtual reality technology is increasingly and widely used in various fields, and in particular education, it is necessary to examine the audience’s perception obtained using this technology in order to study its instructional capabilities. So, the present study aims to investigate the instructional capabilities of the virtual reality system using a comparative analysis of environmental perception obtained directly and using virtual reality technology, based on the evaluation of nonlinear relationships between visual perception components in the perception process. The study is an empirical-survey research where the subjects are looking at the space both directly and by wearing virtual reality eyeglasses at a given time and then surveyed. The statistical population of this study was selected from the architecture students due to the specialized nature of this investigation. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed according to Cronbach's alpha coefficient and its content validity was approved by experts’ opinions. The findings of the four sections of Sample Adequacy, R Factor Analysis, Correlation and Regression indicated that the components of visual perception are identified in five possible factors and three of them are definitively explained. At the first and second factor levels, visual perception includes the components by which the subject can perceive the complexities of the environment and the meaning of the environment, respectively, and at the third factor level, visual perception includes the components by which the subject can perceive the environment visually.