A Methodological Coding Framework to Understand School Student 360-Degree Virtual World Content Creation

While most research on using immersive virtual reality (iVR) for learning focuses on the evaluation of pre-packaged experiences that provide a designated set of learning activities, far less is known about the ways students use the tools of ‘no-code-create’ authoring platforms to create their own virtual worlds. There is even less research on methodological approaches to developing coding frameworks that can capture the myriad creative approaches of students when given iVR authoring tools, particularly ‘no-code’ sandboxes that are accessible to all students. This paper outlines the development and validation of a methodological coding framework that was used to analyse the 360-degree virtual worlds created by middle school students to demonstrate learning in STEM and integrated learning subjects. The paper presents both the process, the coding framework, and its method of validation in the hope that future research focuses on students as iVR content creators instead of consumers.