Systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis on virtual reality and education

Vol.:(0123456789) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11167-5 1 3 Systematic literature review andbibliometric analysis onvirtual reality andeducation MarioA.Rojas‑Sánchez1 · PedroR.Palos‑Sánchez2,3 · JoséA.Folgado‑Fernández4 Received: 11 February 2022 / Accepted: 13 June 2022 © The Author(s) 2022 Abstract The objective of this study is to identify and analyze the scientific literature with a bibliometric analysis to find the main topics, authors, sources, most cited articles, and countries in the literature on virtual reality in education. Another aim is to understand the conceptual, intellectual, and social structure of the literature on the subject and identify the knowledge base of the use of VR in education and whether it is commonly used and integrated into teaching–learning processes. To do this, articles indexed in the Main Collections of the Web of Science, Scopus and Lens were analyzed for the period 2010 to 2021. The research results are presented in two parts: the first is a quantitative analysis that provides an overview of virtual reality (VR) technology used in the educational field, with tables, graphs, and maps, highlighting the main performance indicators for the production of articles and their citation. The results obtained found a total of 718 articles of which the following were analyzed 273 published articles. The second stage consisted of an inductive type of analysis that found six major groups in the cited articles, which are instruction and learning using VR, VR learning environments, use of VR in different fields of knowledge, learning processes using VR applications or games, learning processes employing simulation, and topics published during the Covid-19 pandemic. Another important aspect to mention is that VR is used in many different areas of education, but until the beginning of the pandemic the use of this so-called “disruptive process” came mainly from students, Institutions were reluctant and slow to accept and include VR in the teaching–learning processes. Keywords Virtual classroom· Learning management· Educational innovation· Virtual reality· Learning transfer· Educational technology· Learning processes· Bibliometrics * José A. Folgado-Fernández [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article Published online: 27 June 2022 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 / 1 3 1 Introduction The knowledge society recognizes that Education Institutions are a fundamental part of the globalization process, where the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) improve students’ attitudes towards learning (Lazar & Panisoara, 2018). The concept of education refers to the process of facilitating learning, acquiring knowledge, skills or positive values with the aim of preparing students for life, work and citizenship (Kamińska etal., 2019). Virtual platforms often simulate the classroom and can provide a safe environment for testing experiments that can be dangerous in real life (Tzanavari & Tsapatsoulis, 2010). This revolutionizes learning processes, although professional training and scientific research are required, to facilitate innovative processes and develop new knowledge to meet the challenges of modern world demands (Castillo, 2010). The use of digital technologies has increased at all academic levels with educators adopting them in order to improve the learning experience of their students (McGovern etal., 2019). Learning about sciences cannot always be fully implemented in classrooms, so it can be useful to use other options (Buehl, 2017; Folgado-Fernández etal., 2020). For example, scientific experiment in which physical risks would exist for students or use of very expensive scientific-technological material. In these cases, VR could simulate this environment and e-learning conditions. VR is suited to this as it consists of using a 3D environment that has been generated by a computer where the user can navigate and interact, achieving real-time simulation with a part, or all, of a user’s senses (Guttentag, 2010). Another definition considers virtual reality as an immersive and interactive three-dimensional computergenerated environment in which interaction can occur on multiple sensory channels such as touch and position (Brey, 2014). VR has been widely investigated in many fields such as sports (Vignais etal., 2015), tourism (Tussyadiah etal., 2018), virtual stores (Bonetti etal., 2018; Mann etal., 2015), healthcare from surgery simulation to nursing applications (Beyer- Berjot etal., 2016; Fagan etal., 2012), the military for flight simulation and training (Mihelj etal., 2014) and of course, in education (Zhang etal., 2017). Applications in education can be found for geography (Lv etal., 2017), nature sciences (Palos-Sanchez etal., 2022), mathematics (Xu & Ke, 2016), robotics (Román- Ibáñez et al., 2018), construction safety (Pham et al., 2018), medical training and assessment (Lövquist etal., 2012), physical education (Gómez-García etal., 2018) and many others. Compared to traditional education, using virtual simulation-based training provides safety, cost savings and efficiency because less time is required for training (Shen etal., 2019a, b). Educators’ acceptance of VR in the classroom has been successfully investigated by (Hussin etal., 2011). The behavioral intentions for using VR in learning was analyzed (Shen etal., 2019a, b) and also its acceptance by surgeons using VR for training (Hen, 2019). The aim of this study is to identify and analyze the scientific literature with a bibliometric review to find the main topics, authors, sources, most cited articles 156 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 and countries, as well as to know the conceptual, intellectual and social structure and identify the knowledge base of VR in education, and whether it is commonly used and integrated into teaching–learning processes. To reach the objectives, the articles in the scientific production indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus Main Collection were consulted, analyzing the articles and the emerging trends in research in articles published between January 1, 2010, and July 31, 2021. This study analyzes relevant data from previous research to answer the following research questions (RQ) (Table1): This article is organized as follows: the first part introduces the study, including the objectives and the research questions. A second section presents a review of the literature on bibliometric analysis. The methodology used is defined in the third section, indicating the search procedures used to identify the literature on VR in education. The fourth section presents the results, and these are discussed in the fifth section. Finally, in the sixth section, the conclusions are drawn, and future lines of research are suggested. 2 Review oftheliterature onbibliometric analysis This study uses a bibliometric analysis, which is a term that was coined by Pritchard (1969) who stated that it can be applied in all studies that aim to quantify the process of written communication (Gokhale etal., 2020). Bibliometric analysis is an approach that uses a set of quantitative methods to measure, track, and analyze scholarly literature (Roemer & Borchardt, 2015). It identifies the publications by authors, the most prominent journals, as well as the methodologies used and the conclusions obtained (Durán Sánchez etal., 2014). Metadata gives an overview of any field of research (Milian etal., 2019). Bibliometric methods involve a large volume of bibliographic material and have been used for the analysis of different topics (Blanco-Mesa etal., 2017), Journals (Martínez- López etal., 2018), Countries (Mas-Tur etal., 2019) and others. The scientific literature contains important bibliometric analyses such as that by Huang etal. (2016), who performed a retrospective bibliometric analysis of articles about rehabilitation medicine using VR technology. The conclusion was that VR technology was one of the most popular technological advances. The results found a rapid growth in the production of articles in recent years. 3 Methodology In this study, the selected dataset is analyzed using a quantitative exploration with a bibliometric study that identifies and analyzes the literature on VR in education to provide a map of the knowledge structure (Álvarez-García etal., 2019). A performance analysis and scientific mapping is done in the first part of the study. The scientific or bibliometric mapping provides a representation of how disciplines, fields, specialties, individual papers, and authors are related to each other (Small, 1999). 157Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 Table 1 Research questions Research Question Objective Motivation RQ1 Which authors and journals lead the literature on VR technology in education and which articles are cited the most? To identify the most prolific sources and authors To contribute to a better understanding of the scientific leadership in VR and Education RQ2 What are the main topics that are researched, which countries contribute most to the scientific production and which words are most used in the literature on the use of VR technology in the educational field? To show which topics are of most concern to researchers To find out what topics scientific research is focusing on RQ3 What are the bibliographic maps, graphs and tables for the data, along with the conceptual, intellectual and social structures and the knowledge base for the use of VR technology in the educational field? To carry out an in-depth analysis and to represent it in a summarised form To facilitate the understanding of the current situation of research in VR and Education RQ4 What are the main research works related to VR and Education from an inductive analysis point of view? To know the main works, methods applied, application and results obtained To help the scientific community to improve its productivity 158 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 The recommendations of (Cobo etal., 2011) were used to produce the maps to know the research topics and the different structures in the dataset. A second analysis was also performed, ordering the articles in descending order according to the number of citations. The recommendations of (Heradio etal., 2016) were used to complete this part of the study. Figure1 shows the methodology used. This figure shows different steps. For example, data cleaning was performed after applied inclusion criteria (see Table2—Search string) or indicator elaboration permits sorted in relevance different articles. 3.1 Dataset Articles that constitute a representative sample of international scientific activity published in scientific journals were analyzed (Durán-Sánchez etal., 2018; Velasco etal., 2011). Therefore, meetings papers, editorials, books, chapters, proceedings, news, and other types of documents found in the databases were excluded. 3.2 Identification ofsources Data was gathered from journal articles indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. This database was selected because of three criteria: – It has quality indexes such as JCR. – It covers a long time period. – It allows a considerable number of stored references to be downloaded simultaneously. Fig. 1 Methodology used. Methodology according to (Danvila-del-Valle etal., 2019) 159Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 Table 2 Documents obtained from searches in the databases Data base Search String Results WoS TI = ((("virtual reality" and educat*)) or (("virtual reality" and learn*)) or (("virtual reality" and teach*)) or (("virtual reality" and class*)) or (("virtual reality" and student*)) or (("virtual reality" and innovat*)) or (("virtual reality" and covid*))) Refined by: Document Type: (Article), language: (English) and years of publication: 2010–2021(July). Exclude (Medicine) 436 Scopus: (TITLE (“virtual reality" OR VR) AND TITLE (educat* OR learn* OR teach* OR class* OR student* OR innov* OR covid*)) Refined by: Document Type: (Article), language: (English) and years of publication: 2010–2021 (July). AND (EXCLUDE (SUBJAREA, “MEDI") 898 Lens: ((“virtual reality" OR VR AND educat*) OR (“virtual reality" OR VR AND learn*) OR (“virtual reality" OR VR AND teach*) OR (“virtual reality" OR VR AND class*) OR (“virtual reality" OR VR AND student*) OR (“virtual reality" OR VR AND innov*) OR (“virtual reality" OR VR AND covid)) Refined by Publication Type (Journal article), Field of Study (Virtual reality, Simulation, Teaching method, Higher education, immersive technology, Experiential learning, Knowledge management, Learning environment, Coronavirus disease 2019, Virtual learning environment, Google Cardboard, Training system, information technology) 1.161 160 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 The presence of these characteristics is sufficient to justify its use (Durán-Sánchez etal., 2019). The Scopus multidisciplinary bibliographic database was also used to find information in articles from scientific journals (ASJC) classified into an organized hierarchy of fields and subfields (Hassan etal., 2019). This database was selected because of three criteria: – It has quality indexes such as SJR. – It provides approximately 20% more coverage than the Web of Science. – Simultaneous downloading of a considerable number of references is allowed (Falagas etal., 2008). We used the Lens database and academic meta-search engine, compatible with the biblioshiny software used for data analysis. The search was limited to articles containing the keyword “virtual reality” in the title. This is included in quotation marks to obtain all documents containing that combination of words in the document title and also containing the possible combinations with the terms educat* (to obtain words that start with that word but may have different endings). The terms learn*, teach* class* and student* were also used to obtain articles with titles containing words related to learning, teaching, class or classroom, students. innovat* and Covid* were also included to obtain articles about innovation and the teaching process during the Covid pandemic. 3.3 Study selection criteria The search was performed in English to obtain the largest number of documents in the dataset on VR in education. Table2 shows the initial data obtained with the proposed search strings. The inclusion criteria applied was document type: only articles were selected, language: English and years of publication: 2010–2021(July). The exclusion criteria were to exclude the field of Medicine. This study has not included specialized areas of medicine to get an overview of as many applications as possible in Education. It is particularly valuable for researchers, as information is presented about present and future lines of research which investigate the usefulness of VR in periods of crisis and confinement such as the one, we have just faced evidenced by the sudden leap in the use of technologies, and therefore virtuality, in platforms, applications, games and videos. 3.4 Data analysis process The documents included in this analysis contain bibliographic information obtained after a manual review of the 436 relevant documents found in WoS, 584 found in Scopus and the 251 in Lens. 553 duplicate documents were eliminated, and the names of the authors and journals were normalized, which resulted in 718 documents unified in an.xlsx file. This whole process is summarised in the three stages of search strategies shown in Fig.2. 161Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 Biblioshiny software was used for the analysis of the data. It is a tool which analyzes all the data identified in the body of literature and identifies the main themes (Huber, 2002). The application provides a web interface for the Bibliometrix software version 3.0 (Aria & Cuccurullo, 2017) and provides the data in graphical format, if desired, to visualize the statistics. In this study, the graphs describe the information about VR in the educational field over the time period chosen for the study. Figure2 summarizes the search strategy used. 4 Results 4.1 SLR articles onVR andeducation Tables3 and 4 show some summarized systematic literature reviews (SLR) on virtual reality and education. There has recently been an increase in the number of documents, possibly due to current circumstances like the Covid pandemic and teleworking, which means that technological innovation in education systems has greater prominence than before. The use of ICTs in education is commonplace, with VR no exception and often included in the teaching–learning processes. The evolution in the productivity of articles over the period analyzed clearly shows a rapid growth from 2015 to 2021, as shown in Fig.3. This growth is due to the development of specific content in VR, with more and more sectors involved such as: real estate, locomotion, security, and even education itself with the new e-Learning systems. 4.2 Performance analysis According to Heradio etal. (2016) the main procedure for research performance evaluation is citation analysis, which means, the more citations of an article, the greater its influence in that field. The h-index is considered a suitable measure of the quantity and impact of the scientific output of the publications of a researcher. SELECTION OF ITEMSBIBLIOSHINY WOS 436 LENS 251 SCOPUS 584 WOS 683 Articles LENS 1.161 Articles SCOPUS 889 Articles 718 Unified documents DATA RECOVERY Fig. 2 Search strategy summary. Note: Search strategy for the articles 162 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 Table 3 Summary of related systematic literature reviews Systematic Literature Review Papers Source Period Objective Virtual reality in K‐12 and higher education: A systematic review of the literature from 2000 to 2019 Articles 2000–2019 To consolidate, evaluate, and communicate evidence that considers both the theory and practice of VR‐based instruction Deep and Meaningful E-Learning with Social Virtual Reality Environments in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review (Mystakidis etal., 2021) Peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings 2004–2019 To find the effectiveness of e-learning along with the factors and conditions conducive to deep and meaningful learning, when using social virtual reality environments in distance learning higher education Immersive virtual reality in K‐12 and higher education: A 10‐year systematic review of empirical research (Di Natale etal., 2020) Articles 2010–2019 Mapping the use of Immersive Virtual Reality systems in K-12 and higher educational contexts and investigating their effectiveness in facilitating learning in terms of knowledge attainment and retention and motivational outcomes Asystematicreview of immersivevirtualrealityapplications for highereducation: Design elements, lessons learned, and research agenda (Radianti etal., 2020) Scientific journal articles and conference papers 2016 – 2018 To contribute to the existing body of knowledge about the application of digital devices for educational purposes VirtualRealityand Computer Simulation in Social WorkEducation: ASystematicReview (Huttar & BrintzenhofeSzoc, 2020) Articles and documents from annual meetings and conference programs Oct. 2015 –Dec. 2016 To discover how social work as a profession has embraced virtual reality and computer simulation as instructive methods and their effectiveness in instruction The emergence of technology in physical education: A general bibliometric analysis with a focus on virtual and augmented reality (Calabuig-Moreno etal., 2020) Articles 1900 –2019 (1) To perform a bibliometric analysis of the articles published in the Web of Science on technology in PE (2) To analyze the articles published on augmented or virtual reality in PE found with this search Virtual, augmented and mixed reality in K–12 education: a review of the literature (Maas & Hughes, 2020) Peer-reviewed scholarly studies 2006 – May. 2017 Explore the peer-reviewed scholarly studies which address the use of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) or mixed reality (MR) technologies in the instruction of students in elementary, middle or high school 163Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 Table 6 Most globally cited documents in the dataset Authors Title Source Total citations Highlight Merchant etal. (2014) Effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction on students learning outcomes in k12 and higher education a meta-analysis Computers & Education 452 A comprehensive review of virtual reality-based instruction research Huang etal. (2010) Investigating learners’ attitudes toward virtual reality learning environments: Based on a constructivist approach Computers & Education 236 This paper introduces the educational use of Web-based 3D technologies and highlights VR features Jensen and Konradsen, (2018) A review of the use of virtual reality head-mounted displays in education and training Education and Information Technologies 196 The review identified a number of situations where HMDs are useful for skills acquisition Radianti etal. (2020) A systematic review of immersive virtual reality applications for higher education: Design elements, lessons learned, and research agenda Computers & Education 171 This study identifies 18 application domains VR, indicating a better reception of this technology in many disciplines Lee etal. (2010) How does desktop virtual reality enhance learning outcomes.A structural equation modeling approach Computers & Education 159 The results show how to improve the learning effectiveness and their VR- based learning implementation Merchant etal. (2012) The learner characteristics features of desktop 3d virtual reality environments college chemistry instruction a structural equation modeling analysis Computers & Education 104 Science achievements can be improved at the college level using 3D virtual reality Fowler, (2015) Virtual reality and learning: Where is the pedagogy? British Journal of Educational Technology 103 The paper adopts a “design for learning” perspective, useful to those designing learning activities in 3-D VLEs 170 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 A person can interact in an environment created with VR in a seemingly real or physical way by using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside it or gloves equipped with sensors (Katsioloudis etal., 2017). Jensen and Konradsen (2018) identify situations where HMDs are useful for cognitive skill acquisition, such as remembering and understanding spatial and visual information, psychomotor skills like head movement, visual or observational exploration and affective skills for emotional control and response to stressful or difficult situations. The second group covers VR applied to education, which includes topics such as technologies that allow the visualization of situations, which receive more attention from students and motivate them. Examples of this type of technology are virtual communities, educational games, interactive learning environments, educational technologies that improve the teaching process, online learning, user experience, immersive learning, immersive virtual reality and deep learning. There is a wide variety of possibilities, most of which are immersive, using helmets, games or applications that provide an interactive learning experience for students. Learning environments using animation and multimedia highlight a change in VR learning which is more immersive, simulating the real world with 3D models that provide an interactive environment and reinforce the feeling of immersion. Using this technology, educators combine theory and instruction methods that allow intelligent use of these environments (Huang etal., 2010). There are many ways to create these environments with equipment like VR helmets for experiential learning in a virtual space (Kwon, 2019) and new and improved environments, such as the PILE System that integrates video capture technology into the classroom where interaction is made through physical movements (Yang etal., 2010). As technology advances, better graphics and virtually animated actors or avatars can be used. These improve the applications by being more motivating and enjoyable, even though the applications become more complex which may prevent a novice learner from learning effectively (Kartiko etal., 2010). Fig. 10 Most relevant words 171Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 VR applications enable potential learning. Authors such as Johnson-Glenberg, (2018) explore applications of educational theory which design classes using immersive virtual reality with two unique attributes of VR, which are making the student feel present in any given situation and to be able to use gestures and perform manipulations in three dimensions. For decades the primary interfaces of educational technology have been the mouse and keyboard, but now highly immersive environments can enhance learning and affect the way content is retained and encoded. Games are useful in educational technology with many examples available. Some of these are used to train students in safety through role-playing and social interaction (Palos-Sanchez etal., 2018), which allows students to understand the causes of accidents and inspect risks in an immersive environment provided by the game (Le etal., 2015). Interaction was found to play an important role in understanding mathematics and geometry with problem solving. A whiteboard and a virtual tool were used to solve problems individually or in pairs. Group learning was found to be more effective, although the results of the groups were different as the difficulty of the problems were varied (Hwang & Hu, 2013). Articles were found concerning online learning which shares digital content and technological tools for e-learning and virtual reality learning. One of these articles compares techniques such as email, attachments, shared use of Web interfaces and a VR engine which provides a virtual interface. The results indicate that users completed their workflow 50% faster with the VR option (Lampert etal., 2018). Another application that marked a change in e-learning is an innovative tool for young adults with mild cognitive impairments. It is an immersive virtual reality game called "In Your Eyes" that focuses on skills related to spatial Fig. 11 Factor map cluster analysis of high-frequency key words. Note: Factor analysis, keyword map, number of terms: 50, number of clusters: 2, label size: 12, number of words: 500 172 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 perspective involving all five senses which shows that an immersive world can be an excellent training method (Freina etal., 2016). 4.3.2 Co‑occurrence network mapping Bibliometric mapping of the keywords used by the author was done to gain a thorough understanding of the conceptual structure. Apart from the Keyword Virtual Reality itself, it highlights those related to education, e-Learning and Students. The co-occurrence analysis is shown in Fig.12. Keyword co-occurrence analysis is an effective tool for understanding knowledge structures and research trends. This makes it easier to understand primary and secondary publications (Altınay Ozdemir & Goktas, 2021). In this figure, one should start by distinguishing nodes by their size. This represents the number of documents, while the line between two nodes represents a link between the two groups. A link means a co-occurrence between the two keywords (Guo etal., 2019). If the line is short the link is strong and vice versa. In this bibliometric analysis we mainly distinguish the following keywords: ’virtual reality’, ’e-learning’ and ’students’ in a first cluster. Each cluster represents a keyword and shows the most linked and repeated keywords in the publications. All clusters have a different colour. In Fig.12 a distinction is made between the red colour for this cluster and the blue colour showing the following main keywords: ’Education’, ’Technology’, ’augmented reality’, ’performance’, ’simulation’ and ’environments’. Because this bibliometric study found few papers, the number of co-occurrence links between keywords was not excessive. As Fig.12 shows, two groups had a stronger relationship: ’Education Technology for simulation environments with augmented reality’ and ’Virtual reality for e-learning systems’. 4.3.3 Productivity mapping ofitems bycountry The countries or regions with the highest document productivity in this study are the Republic of China with 273, United States of America with 242 documents, followed by South Korea with 57 and Spain with 50, as shown in Fig.13. The high productivity of the United States is consistent with the bibliometric mapping for an analysis of studies on foreign language teaching in early childhood education by (Yilmaz etal., 2019) as well as the work of other authors (Hernández-Torrano & Kuzhabekova, 2019). China is a world power in VR technology and Chinese universities have been concerned to increase research in this field to meet the challenges posed by VR technologies. The main reason is that Chinese people are very prone to adopt emerging technologies, we can say that it is an important virtual reality market in the world. In Fig.14 we see how the main keywords, students, virtual reality, technology, e-learning, have a greater relationship with the countries of China and the USA, as well as the universities in the last column, which reflects a greater scientific production in topics related to technology applied to education. VR technology in the educational field is opening up space through e-learning, game-based learning to mobile learning, going from simulation, machine learning 173Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 to Deep Learning, where immersive virtual reality is part of the topics present as shown in Fig.15. In Fig.15 we can see the thematic evolution through a Sankey energy diffluence diagram, which is a specific type of flow diagram. In this paper, based on the Sankey diagram, we visualise the thematic evolution over time in the field of VR and Education research. This figure helps us to understand the temporal evolution of the conditions in which the different topics in the field of Virtual Reality applied to Education have been flowing. In this Fig.15 we can clarify quantitative information such as thematic flow, direction of thematic flow and conversion relationships (Soundararajan etal., 2014). 4.3.4 Collaboration betweencountries mapping This map gives an improved understanding of the social structure, not only of authors, but also of the countries to which they belong. Figure16 shows collaborative relationships between China, USA, Korea, and Canada, as well as Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom, along with others, the collaboration between the USA and China are the most important. Fig. 12 Keywords Plus co-occurrence network 174 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 4.4 Second stage analysis This section briefly summarizes the most cited articles, and they are classified into categories, in the literature few authors provide us with a panoramic view of virtual reality technology applied to the educational field. In contrast to other authors (Zappatore etal. (2015) who perform an eminently quantitative approach in their analyses, this paper follows the line of Heradio etal. (2016) by providing a dual quantitative–qualitative approach. Thus, our analysis is not limited to counting articles, authors or journals, but describes and comments on the most relevant data for the RV community (Bardakci etal., 2022; Kushairi & Ahmi, 2021). The articles were listed in descending order according to the number of citations to find the main topics addressed and describe the documents that are considered the most important. All papers which had citations were classified and grouped into six categories: (a) papers about VR-based instruction and learning, (b) papers studying VR learning environments, (c) papers presenting the use of VR in different fields of knowledge, (d) papers describing learning processes that use VR applications, devices or games, (e) papers on research about learning processes using simulation, and (f) topics published during the Covid-19 pandemic. 4.4.1 VR‑based instruction andlearning Among the most outstanding papers are the following: Merchant etal. (2014), Lee etal. (2010), Makransky and Lilleholt (2018) and Jensen and Konradsen, (2018). Jensen and Konradsen, (2018) seek to update knowledge on the use of head-mounted displays (HMD) in Education and training. The study identifies the acquisition of skills such as cognitive skills, i.e., remembering, understanding information, spatial and visual knowledge; as well as visual exploration or observation, among the most important are the affective skills related to control and emotional response to 273 242 57 50 35 33 30 27 13 12 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 ChinaUSA South Korea SpainAustralia Malaysia United Kingdom GermanyDenmark Italy Frequency Countries Fig. 13 Productivity of items by country 175Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 stressful or difficult situations. These learning tools enhance learning and are very useful in the educational field. The most cited paper is Merchant etal. (2014). This work performs a meta-analy- sis that investigates the effectiveness of reality-based virtual instruction on learning outcomes. In order to do this, the authors researched the overall effect and impact of selected instructional design principles of VR technology-based instruction such as, games, simulation, virtual worlds, in higher education settings and as a result found that using games has a greater effect on learning than simulations and virtual worlds. The study by Lee etal. (2010) examined how desktop VR (VR) enhances learning, finding that VR features have an indirect effect on learning. The learning experience was individually measured by psychological factors, such as presence, Fig. 14 Three fields plot Fig. 15 Thematic evolution 176 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 motivation, cognitive gains, control, and active learning, as well as reflective thinking which all affected the learning outcomes when using the desktop VR-based learning environment. Further research investigated how spatial ability and learning style enable instructional designers and VR software developers to improve learning effectiveness and therefore increase the amount the software is used. According to Makransky and Lilleholt (2018) much remains to be discovered about the impact and use of immersive VR in e-learning tools that impact students’ emotional processes while learning. Many authors investigate VR as a tool in learning processes. An example is Huang and Liaw, (2018) who explored how virtual reality technology actively focuses on the learner’s interactive learning processes and attempts to reduce the gap between learner knowledge and real-life experience. Alfalah (2018) examined perceptions when using VR as a tool for education confirming that teachers and students are willing to use VR. Allcoat and von Mühlenen (2018) assigned students into three groups who taught with different methods, 1) traditional book learning, 2) virtual reality learning and 3) video. The students were tested for their knowledge of the subject being taught before and after the classes, finding that participants in the virtual reality group showed better recall performance and more positive emotions than the other groups. Hewawalpita etal. (2018) explored an improved configuration of massive open online courses. Two groups were used, one group were students who had already taken the traditional course and the second group started from scratch and were given virtual reality content. The results showed that the second group had significantly better performance and it was concluded that interactive learning content can be designed for the different learning needs of students. Fig. 16 Collaboration between countries 177Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 Wang, (2018) proposed a distance learning virtual reality experiment with computers and VR technology and found practical reasons to promote the development of distance learning using computer. In view of the works analyzed in the context of VR-based Instruction and Learning, we can say that the VR-based learning process is a useful tool for the educator, as it can replicate or complement traditional teaching methods. It is a fully effective concept even using basic forms, such as VR glasses or smartphones. This method is suitable for classroom teaching, distance learning, self-learning and other educational environments, and allows the simulation of scenarios that enrich teaching, even those dangerous experiments that cannot be reproduced in reality. These papers conclude that it is essential to design useful and learner-friendly VR learning tasks and activities in order to improve learning outcomes. These activities should be adapted to learners with different learning styles and special abilities. Although this is a novel experience, the gap in these research models lies in the need for new longitudinal studies to verify whether improvements in teaching processes are maintained over time. It is necessary to identify differences in teaching processes, such as context, sample, duration, cultural background or learning programs with different content. There is a need to deepen and explore the influence of virtual reality on the relationship between motivation and learning performance. That is, it is desirable to know whether students’ disappointment can have a negative influence on their learning, using qualitative and quantitative methods in the study of prolonged periods. 4.4.2 VR learning environments Geng etal. (2021) explore the pedagogical potential of Interactive Spherical Virtual reality based on video in geographic education, considering the perspective of teachers, they were given an introduction to this technology to know the acceptance, creation and experience, it was intended that teachers know the potential of this technology for teaching and learning purposes, the main concerns were the technological integration in pedagogy, they find that they need more professional development to design and refine this methodology. Perhaps it is more change adversity that is reflected in the need to ask for more training in the use of technology. VR learning environments are explained by Huang etal. (2010) who indicate that there is a shift in learning from conventional multimedia to a more immersive, interactive, intuitive and exciting VR learning environment. It combines positive pedagogy and the use of technological innovations that are immersive and trigger the imagination of the learner. Fowler, 2015 tried to give a more pedagogical description of adopting learning in three-dimensional (3-D) virtual learning environments (VLE) using a "design for learning" perspective that is useful for those who design learning activities in 3D VLEs, but considers that the risk of high-fidelity 3D VLEs is that using them to create virtual classrooms that "feel" and look like real classrooms means that they miss the opportunity to create pedagogically new and innovative learning environments. 178 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 Yang etal. (2010) investigated designing and developing a physically interactive learning environment. This was a PILE system that integrated VR video capture technology in a classroom. The group using the system showed a significant difference in pre-test and post-test knowledge. Makransky and Petersen (2019) believe that VR has the potential to enrich students’ educational experiences. The authors investigated the affective and cognitive factors that play a role in learning when using desktop virtual reality simulation and concluded that learners can benefit from desktop virtual reality simulation in which emphasis is given to effective virtual reality features with a high level of usability. The works analyzed emphasize that previous experiences with virtual reality in education have improved significantly. Although in the beginning they only used a mouse and keyboard as input devices, the benefits and educational effectiveness of 3D virtual learning and new virtual tools such as the PILE system, which allows students to interact with objects on the screen through physical movements, are gradually emerging. Although technology has accompanied the teaching process exponentially in recent years, replacing traditional whiteboards with smart boards and VR elements, the gap in these research models lies in the need for new research is needed to explore the variables that may affect learning outcomes when using VR simulations. The described works suggest that it would be convenient to explore aspects such as duration, users’ prior knowledge or dual cognitive/affective component. The study of individual student differences, the long-term implications for knowledge acquisition, the frequent use of technology outside of teaching, the ease of use of different VR tools and the willingness of teachers to implement new VR-based utilities are also considered. This analysis evidences the importance of VR-based simulation processes, especially in areas of knowledge development that teachers deem necessary, allowing a balance between the cost and benefit of the experiences obtained. 4.4.3 Use ofVR invarious fields ofknowledge Osti etal. (2021) They seek to train construction workers using a novel VR system, this simulated a virtual training site, implemented a 3D training video with a VR head-mounted display, and compared it with a second group shown simple 2-D instructional video training, the first group presented better results in terms of retention, task performance, learning speed and participation. The practical application of VR as a teaching and learning tool is remarkable. Schmidt and Glaser (2021) investigated the use of virtual reality by individuals with autism using 360-degree video modeling and headset-based virtual reality to investigate skills acquirement in adults on the autism spectrum in order to promote safety and the appropriate use of public transport. The results suggest a very positive learning experience and that the intervention is feasible and relevant for the unique needs of the target population. Vélaz etal. (2014) studied the influence of interaction technology on the learning process when performing assembly tasks and learning processes using games and VR applications for industrial education. Sampaio etal. (2013) investigated the 179Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 References Alfalah, S. F. (2018). Perceptions toward adopting virtual reality as a teaching aid in information technology. 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Behaviour y Information Technology, 36(5), 548–556. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1080/ 01449 29x. 2016. 12686 47 191Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192 1 3 Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Authors and Affiliations MarioA.Rojas‑Sánchez1 · PedroR.Palos‑Sánchez2,3 · JoséA.Folgado‑Fernández4 1 Costa Rica Institute ofTechnology, Cartago, CostaRica 2 Department ofFinancial Economics andOperations, University ofSevilla, Seville, Spain 3 NECE-UBI Research Unit inBusiness Sciences, University ofBeira Interior (UBI), Covilhã, Portugal 4 Departamento de Economía Financiera y Contabilidad, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, España 192 Education and Information Technologies (2023) 28:155–192