Evaluating Uses of XR in Fostering Art Students’ Learning

This paper addresses the potential of extended reality (XR) to foster art students’ learning and creativity with specially developed applications for the creation of art exhibitions. This study is based on the EU-funded research project ‘Scaffolding Creativity of Arts Students: Framework, Toolchain, and Educational Material on how to Create their Own Virtual Exhibitions’ (CREAMS). CREAMS develops interconnected virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) indoor and outdoor exhibition creation applications. The article puts emphasis on the issue of what evaluation methodology is more adequate to assess the efficacy of such applications, and pertinent challenges, as well as related research, are discussed. In this context, ways in which Fine Art School undergraduates can benefit from the creation of XR/VR exhibitions are explored. Such uses of XR are primarily examined in terms of their potential to enhance learning, and foster students’ skills. The potential of adding multimodal resources that contextualize exhibited artworks is examined to foster viewers’ meaningful engagement. Art students’ ability to communicate the underlying concepts/ideas of their art through XR apps is also addressed. Moreover, this paper investigates how XR technologies can foster the collaboration of tutors and students in Fine Art Schools through specially developed platforms embedded in the XR applications. The ability of the CREAMS VR application to foster such cooperation between students and their tutors is also evaluated. The scientific contribution of this paper relates to the evaluation methodology of XR art exhibition applications that have an educational role.