Effectiveness of walking navigation on virtual presence in virtual learning environment

The purpose of this study was to verify whether the effect of the navigation using the walking motion in the virtual reality environment affects the virtual presence. For this purpose, two research objectives were constructed. In order to achieve these objectives, two experiments were carried out. For Experiment I, a difference test was conducted based on the device attributes of joystick and treadmill. For the Experiment 2, the various navigation modes (vehicle driving mode, flight mode, and walking mode) were applied to verify the effect of walking motion on virtual reality. To conduct two different experiments, the researchers created virtual contents of Seokguram and Nakan-eupseong. 24 undergraduates voluntarily participated in the study. The students walked on the treadmill, and explored Seokguram and Nakan-eup castle, wearing Oculus with HMD. In order to measure virtual presence (spatial presence, involvement, and realness), data were collected using a research instrument with 15 items. In the first experiment, joystick and treadmill conditions were higher than those of joystick only regardless of scene in spatial presence, involvement, and realness. In the second experiment, we analyzed the interactions of spatial presence, involvement, and realness of virtual reality by navigation type. As a result of walking method using treadmill method, spatial presence and involvement were found to be higher than realness. In driving and flight mode, involvement was found to be higher than spatial presence and realness.