2019 International Conference on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions (ICTer) : 03 rd – 04 th September 2019 International Conference on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions ICTer2019 Virtual Reality for Learning: Assessment of Awareness and Preference in Emerging Regions A. C. Gammanpila #1 , V. A. P. C. Perera #2 , H. A. S. D. Senaratna #3 , E. W. R. S. Edirisinghe #4 , Udaka. A. Manawadu #5 , P. Ravindra S. De Silva #6 # Center of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka 1 adhisha@ieee.org, 2 as81229@sci.sjp.ac.lk, 3 sajini@ieee.org, 4 randulase@ieee.org, 5 udaka@sci.sjp.ac.lk, 6 ravi@sjp.ac.lk Abstract— In this research, the awareness and the preference of using Virtual Reality (VR) as a medium of Learning in the Emerging Regions in South Asia such as Sri Lanka, was assessed with a randomly selected audience of 250. Currently VR is one of the fastest growing industries globally and application of Virtual Reality in Education and Learning plays a significant role in its growth. Yet in emerging regions such as Sri Lanka, the uses of such technologies are relatively less. The experiment was conducted with 250 volunteers provided with a questionnaire before and after experiencing the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Historic scenery of Chola Dynasty was created with a Virtual tutor where the user was given the complete freedom to navigate in the historic scenery and learn from the virtual tutor. The scenery was designed and developed by considering Human Computer Interaction (HCI) heuristics, Hand-Gestures and realistic audio material in order to provide the learner a realistic and an immersive experience. The results showed that the majority of the school students show a major interest in using VR as a medium of learning and the second highest to show such an interest within the sample were the undergraduates. Even though the majority of the student and undergraduate community have not experienced VR before, this being their first encounter with a VR based application showed positive results. Also having various hand- gestures for the virtual characters used for tutoring showed to be very much effective as demonstrated by the results of the experiment. Keywords— Virtual Reality, Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Chola Dynasty I. INTRODUCTION Virtual Reality (VR) is an extensively used technology in industries such as education, scientific simulation, tourism and entertainment [1][2]. Providing an immersive experience to the user has not only been attempted recently but ever since the 19th century. As stated in the records [3], since 19th century, various attempts such as 360-degree murals (or panoramic paintings) have been created to provide an illusion that the viewer is present in a different location. This could be considered as an early attempt of VR. Since then the advancement of VR accelerated and by 2017 the VR industry was valued at $14.1 billion according to Statista portal and it is predicted to be valued at $209 billion by 2022 [4][5]. Especially the applications of VR for education and training play a vital role in this massively growing industry. For example, as reported by Oculus VR [6][7], Walmart has invested in 17,000 Oculus Go VR headsets for employee training and to educate on customer service. Another major case study would be the US Army providing Microsoft with a $480 million contract to supply 100,000 HoloLens Augmented Reality headsets for training and combat purposes [8]. Moreover, before the introduction of 4G Network technology in 2010, major predictions were made on high quality video streaming as a benefit of the technology [9]. At present high quality video streaming has become a day to day service which is being used. Equivalent predictions are being made by the researchers for the introduction of 5G network technologies. It is expected to provide high speed and low cost internet which break barriers for VR applications. Hence it will also be opening new doors for Cloud based VR technologies [10]. Consequently studying the awareness and the preference on using VR for various domains has become increasingly important in order to design, develop and implement effective VR applications. The article by Harvard Business Review [11] supports as an evidence to highlight the significance of having market information when launching a product or service to a new market. Considering the studies conducted using VR for learning, David et al [12] conducted an experiment involving a sample set of 19 students in United States. Based on the pre and post experiment questionnaires, participants reported a moderate level of presence in immersive VR in a scale of 1 to 7, [(M = 5.09, SD = 0.73), min = 3.56, max = 6.89]. In agreement with the study, the students who engaged in deep immersive experiences had gained higher knowledge and understanding about the climate changing application which was used in the study. As stated in the study made on using VR for Human Anatomy by S. Izard et al [13], the learners were able to get a realistic experience in practising anatomy. The ability not only to visualize but also to interact with the anatomy and having animations similar to the real anatomy had helped the users to understand and get educated on the subject area. In consonance with Tremayne et al [14], study on “Interactivity and Information Processing”, yields evidence to support the fact that when the user interaction is high in the learning environment the learning effectiveness is also relatively high. However a very limited number of studies have been done in emerging regions in South Asia similar to Sri Lanka with respect to VR based Learning. Majority of the studies have been done on e-learning methodologies and its’ effectiveness which had focused on online and video based learning. Referencing a few major studies that were carried on in the interactive learning domain, Weeraratne et al [15] researched to determine the effectiveness of using Khan Academy for learning in Sri Lanka and it has shown positive results. Based on the study, on average Khan Academy