Immersive VR learning environments: cognitive load, engagement, and learning analytics

Abstract Immersive virtual reality (VR) can represent complex educational content through spatial organization, multimodal presentation, and interactive exploration, but its instructional value relative to traditional and non-immersive multimedia learning remains uncertain. This study compared three instructional formats over an eight-week period using a quantitative-dominant mixed-methods design. Participants were 150 undergraduate and graduate students from two universities allocated to traditional instruction, non-immersive multimedia instruction, or immersive VR instruction ( n = 50 per condition). Knowledge was assessed before and after the intervention, while engagement, learning motivation, and cognitive load were measured using structured scales. Behavioral interaction in the VR condition was additionally examined through system-log indicators, and post-intervention interviews were conducted with a purposive subsample of 30 students as supplementary explanatory evidence. All three groups improved, with the VR condition showing the largest mean knowledge gain (22.91% points) and normalized gain (0.45). The VR condition was also associated with higher engagement and motivation and lower subjective cognitive load than the comparison conditions. Exploratory path analysis indicated that engagement and cognitive load were associated with post-test performance after adjustment for baseline performance, although the concurrent timing of the post-intervention measures precludes a causal interpretation of these indirect associations. The findings indicate that guided immersive VR can provide a useful instructional format for conceptually demanding university content when interaction, multimodal representation, and instructional structure are aligned.