How Immersive Virtual Environments Foster Self-Regulated Learning

Over the past decade, immersive virtual environments have been increasingly used to facilitate students' learning of complex scientific topics. The non-linearity and open-endedness of these environments create learning opportunities for students but can also impose challenges in terms of extraneous cognitive load and greater requirements for self-regulated learning (SRL). SRL is crucial for academic success in various educational settings. This chapter explores how the immersive virtual assessments (IVAs), an immersive virtual environment designed to assess middle school students' science inquiry skills, fostered SRL. The analyses combining educational data mining techniques with multilevel analysis indicated that students developed self-regulatory behaviors and strategies as they used IVAs. Experience with IVAs prepared students to adopt more efficient note-taking and note-reviewing strategies. Students also learned to exploit more available sources of information by taking and reviewing notes on them in order to either solve inquiry problems or to monitor their solutions.