虛擬實境在教育的國際研究與應用趨勢

Trends of research and applications of virtual reality in education

運用虛擬實境（Virtual Reality, VR）科技提供互動的學習情境，對於提升學習成效具有很大的潛力。為了協助研究人員了解VR科技在教育（Virtual Reality in Education,VR-E）的應用及研究趨勢，本研究採用文獻計量分析，以國家／地區、主要期刊、高被引論文、作者及關鍵字的角度，針對Web of Science（WoS）資料庫中，1994∼2021年VR在教育領域的文獻進行回顧。從分析結果得知，美國、臺灣、英國是排名前三的國家／地區；Computers & Education與British Journal of Educational Technology是發表數量排名前二的期刊；被引用次數最多的期刊依序則為Computers & Education、British Journal of Educational Technology與Educational Technology & Society。從關鍵字分析了兩個研究集群，即虛擬互動環境的學習策略與教育議題以及虛實整合環境的建立與應用。此外，1994∼2001年聚焦於探討虛擬互動的教育環境；2002∼2011年開始結合教學或學習策略來協助學習者進行學習；2012∼2021年則聚焦於虛實整合的建立與應用。因此，本研究可供研究者和政策制定者之VR在教育領域的作用和研究趨勢，以及未來研究作為參考。

The use of Virtual Reality (VR) to provide interactive learning contexts has great potential to enhance the effectiveness of students’ learning performance. To help researchers understand the applications and research trends of VR in education (VR-E), this study conducted a bibliometric analysis on the publications from 1994 to 2021 in the Web of Science (WoS) database. Several dimensions, such as the contributing countries/regions, major journals, highly cited articles, authors and keywords, are taken into account. From the analysis, it is found that the US, Taiwan and the UK are the top three contributing countries/ regions; Computers & Education and British Journal of Educational Technology are the top two journals in terms of the number of publications; the most cited journals are Computers & Education, British Journal of Educational Technology, and the UK. Moreover, two research clusters namely “learning strategies and educational issues in virtual interactive environments” and “creation and application of virtual-reality integrated environments” were analyzed based on the keywords of the publications. In addition, it is found that the publications in years 1994-2001 focused on virtual interactive educational environments; the studies in 2002- 2011 began to integrate teaching or learning strategies to assist learners in their learning; and those in 2012-2021 focused on the establishment and application of virtual-real integration. Accordingly, this study provides researchers and policy makers with an overview of the role of VR in education and research trends, as well as recommendations for future research.