Analyzing one’s own and others’ errors in 360° video-based virtual reality: an exploratory pilot study in swiss vocational healthcare training

Abstract Video-based reflection can help learners recognize procedural errors and develop prevention strategies. 360° video-based virtual reality (360°VR) is increasingly used for error analysis, especially in tertiary education, because it can depict authentic professional situations with a high degree of physical realism. However, little is known about whether analyzing one’s own errors differs from analyzing a peer’s errors in 360°VR and about how vocational learners respond to this task. Using a two-condition between-groups design, this pilot study compared two approaches to error analysis in 360°VR: healthcare assistant apprentices analyzed either their own venipuncture procedure (SELF; n = 16) or a peer’s procedure (PEER; n = 17). Outcomes included error-analysis performance, sense of presence, epistemic emotions, motivation, and perceived cognitive demand. Between-group differences were analyzed using Mann–Whitney U tests. SELF participants reported a higher sense of presence and perceived usefulness, but also greater anxiety. Although SELF participants rated the error-analysis task as easier than PEER participants did, performance did not differ detectably and was low in both conditions, suggesting that the task may have been difficult for apprentices. The substantially greater effort required to produce individualized SELF recordings was therefore not matched by any detectable gain in error-analysis performance. Future research should examine whether differences between SELF and PEER observation in 360°VR vary with expertise, guidance, and error salience.