Teaching Social Network Analytics via Virtual Reality: Demonstrating a Novel VR Application

Practitioners and researchers have extensively utilized network analysis to explore interactions among various elements. Traditionally, networks are mathematically represented using matrices. Subsequently, two-dimensional visualization tools became popular for analyzing these networks. In educational settings, the current approach involves teaching networks through matrices and 2-D visualizations. This paper introduces an innovative approach to teaching network analysis using virtual reality (VR) in which the user is a part of the network. By leveraging VR, students can gain a deeper understanding of network concepts through immersive interaction with the network by being a part of it. Specifically, the application will demonstrate how the concepts of a social network can be illustrated to potential learners of social network analytics.