Development and implementation of an IVR-based assessment system for student teachers’ professional vision

Professional vision (PV), which includes the ability to perceive and interpret classroom events, is important for classroom behaviour management, particularly in the training of student teachers. However, to date, few assessment systems that can assess student teachers’ professional vision by immersing them in a realistic classroom environment (presence) from their own perspective (first-person perspective) have been developed. To address this gap, this study employs a design-based research approach to develop an immersive virtual reality (IVR) technology-based professional vision assessment system (IVR-based PVAS). The research outlines the four-stage process through which the system was constructed to meet the requirements of professional vision assessment and address the core challenges of the current assessment approach. Twenty-four student teachers were enrolled as participants in an implementation case study in which their perceptions and interpretations of seven classroom events related to student misbehaviour were assessed via an IVR-based PVAS. The participants’ problems with perception and interpretation were diagnosed with multiple assessment indices. The benefits of the IVR-based PVAS are summarised, and recommendations are provided for the use of this assessment system in both instruction and research.