Shared understanding. Shared focus. Sociability and playfulness.

1. Why VR is a superior learning
environment?
Osku Torro
Tampere University
NOVI Research Center

2. “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes
thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about
solutions” – Albert Einstein
• Conventional remote work tools cannot sustain task-
related focus, creativity, innovation, and social relations
• All of which are critical to effective distance learning!
Torro, O., Jalo, H., & Pirkkalainen, H. (2021). Six reasons why virtual
reality is a game-changing computing and communication platform
for organizations. Communications of the ACM, 64(10), 48-55.

3. The solution
VR provides unique affordances for…
a. Shared sense-making
b. Shared focus
c. Sociability and playfulness
Torro, O., Holopainen, J., Jalo, H., Pirkkalainen, H., & Lähtevänoja, A. (forthcoming, 2022). How to Get Things Done in Social
Virtual Reality – A Study of Team Cohesion in Social Virtual Reality-Enabled Virtual Teams. In Proceedings of the 55th Hawaii
International Conference on Systems Sciences. 2022.

4. What next?
• Increasing avatar realism
(e.g., face tracking, eye
tracking, body tracking…)
• More effective workflows
(see-through keyboard, IS
integrations)
• Integrating other emerging
technologies into VR (e.g., AI
agents)
• Real-time volumetric content
(global teleportation,
hologram avatars)
Photo by Varjo