Measuring presence in virtual world teacher education: validation of the eXtended Reality Presence Scale

Abstract Extended reality technologies are increasingly used in teacher education. For instance, innovations like 360 videos and virtual reality have been shown to be effective in improving future educators’ noticing, self-efficacy, and sense of presence, particularly in simulations of real classrooms. However, little is known about how presence is experienced in immersive recordings of educational gaming environments (i.e., Minecraft or Roblox ). This study addresses that gap by examining how pre-service teachers experience presence when viewing a 360 video of a third-grade math lesson set within Minecraft.edu . Using Rasch analysis, we validated the eXtended Reality Presence Scale with a sample of 91 pre-service teachers. We also examined the correlation between presence scores and participants’ field of view (a proxy for visual attention) and compared presence ratings between immersive recordings of a real classroom and a Minecraft.edu environment. Results support the scale as a valid tool for measuring presence in game-based immersive environments. Presence was significantly correlated with participants’ field of view, suggesting that attentional engagement is linked to the experience of presence. However, participants reported lower presence in the Minecraft.edu lesson compared to the real classroom. These findings extend theoretical understanding of presence by demonstrating its variability across extended reality contexts and validating a tool for measuring it in educational gaming environments—an area previously underexplored.