Work-in-Progress—A 360 Virtual Reality Simulation to Prepare Social Work Students to Interact with Community Environments

Authors

  • Nicholas Lanzieri Clinical Associate Professor, Silver School of Social Work; New York University NYC, U.S.A
  • Henry Samelson Associate Director, Educational Technology, Silver School of Social Work; New York University NYC, U.S.A.
  • Elizabeth McAlpin Director of Research, Teaching & Learning with Technology, NYU IT; New York University NYC, U.S.A.
  • David Shilane Data Scientist, Teaching & Learning with Technology, NYU IT; New York University NYC, U.S.A.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56198/

Keywords:

Virtual reality, Social work, Field education, Situated learning theory

Abstract

Social work educators utilize theories to teach students about the correlations that exist between the environment and an individual's development. Students, however, do not apply these theoretical perspectives with consistency when interacting with people within their communities. Virtual reality (VR) can be a scaffolding tool used to address this disparity. This work-in-progress paper describes a 360 VR tool aimed at immersing students in a typical NYC neighborhood. Pre- and post-performance of students who engaged with the VR tool showed statistically significant learning gains and positive effects on VR use, value, and satisfaction with the experience.

Published

17-11-2025

Conference Proceedings Volume

Section

Conference Proceeedings

How to Cite

Work-in-Progress—A 360 Virtual Reality Simulation to Prepare Social Work Students to Interact with Community Environments. (2025). Immersive Learning Research - Academic, 1(1), 271-274. https://doi.org/10.56198/

Similar Articles

1-10 of 739

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.