The Impact of Immersive Virtual Reality on Preservice Teachers’ Intercultural Sensitivity

Intercultural sensitivity involves recognizing, understanding, and valuing the diverse perspectives, behaviors, and norms of individuals from different cultural backgrounds and appropriately responding to cultural differences in ways that promote mutual respect. Intercultural sensitivity requires empathy, openness, and a willingness to challenge one’s own assumptions. Immersive Virtual Reality (I-VR) can simulate real-life scenarios that allow individuals to experience situations from another culture's perspective, enhancing empathy and understanding. The immersive nature of I-VR promotes empathy by allowing users to see and feel what it’s like to be in another’s cultural reality. The effectiveness of I-VR in fostering cognitive, social, and emotional skills has grown with advancements in VR technology. Recent studies highlight its significant impact on emotional and affective development, particularly in higher education and teacher training. This study aimed to develop and test the implementation of an I-VR intervention using Oculus Meta Quest Pro/Meta Quest 2 and the Engage VR platform to enhance teacher education students' cultural sensitivity. A systematic approach was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from twenty preservice teachers. Results indicated significant improvements in intercultural competence (IC) across subscales of openness, communication, worldview, and self-awareness, demonstrating the intervention's effectiveness in enhancing intercultural sensitivity. Given the immersive features of VR and their impact on cognitive and emotional empathy, the I-VR experience shows promise in strengthening certain aspects of empathy and potentially impacting cultural sensitivity.