The Pedagogy of Play: Establishing UX Benchmarks for Efficacy and Learning Outcomes in VR Serious Games

Abstract

Pedagogy of play and user experience (UX) design have a joint effect on the learning effectivity and performance in the VR serious games. Despite a growing popularity of using VR serious games in the educational process because of their ability to engage students in the educational process and offer a highly experiential learning experience, there is no consistent evidence of their beneficial use, and the standard of their UX is yet to be established. Its goal is to put empirical benchmarks of UX that can be related to play-based elements of pedagogies and learning outcomes. Mixed-method design is used with descriptive-analytical design. Structured questionnaires made in the Delhi NCR area were used to gather primary data on 200 users of VR serious game, and secondary data are used to provide its theoretical foundation. The SPSS is used to carry out statistical analyses of the data, including the descriptive statistics, correlation, regression, and ANOVA. Results indicate that UX design is a significant predictor of learning outcome (practically more than half of the variance) and play-based pedagogical factors exhibit a high positive correlation with UX design factors. The findings show that successful learning in VR settings is the product of their interaction between pedagogical intent and user-friendly UX and not technology itself. The study reaches the conclusion that the combination of play-based teaching strategy and an optimized user experience positively influence the engagement, cognitive learning, and development of skills. The results can provide effective recommendations to educators, designers and policymakers to embrace evidence-based VR learning solutions. The study has drawbacks associated with the regionality of study, cross-sectionality, and use of self-reported data. The future study must consider longitudinal, cross-disciplinary, and adaptive UX methodology to enhance the generalizability and long-term learning findings.