Immersive virtual reality simulations for competence development : innovative or rather utopic?

Recently, teacher training programs implement more authentic learning experiences in their courses. For aiding preservice teachers (PSTs) to practice their classroom management skills for example, desktop (video-based) simulations are increasingly used. However, due to a lack of authenticity, these simulations appear to make a limited contribution to the acquisition of complex competences such as aggression management (AM). This study wants to explore a different, innovative path, and therefore aims to evaluate the impact of virtual reality (VR)-based simulations on the development of the AM competence of PSTs. Participants of this experimental study are randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. Via head-mounted display 360-degree videos, PSTs from the experimental group will be immersed in situations which require the use of AM skills. The control group participates in a desktop simulation. A mixed methods approach will be used (1) to investigate to what extent VR-based simulations foster the AM competence of PSTs, (2) to compare the impact of VR-based simulations with online simulations and (3) to formulate design principles specifically for competence development via VR-based simulations. This study offers a contribution to research on AM skills in teacher training, as the use of immersive simulations in this context is scarce.