Confirmation of Candidature - Evaluating the Impact of Professional Development on Indian Primary Teachers' Adoption of VR in the Classroom

Virtual Reality (VR) technology has progressively penetrated into the teaching and learning helping environment supporting students' authentic learning experiences due to its immersive and interactive features. While VR is widely used in Western countries, its adoption in Indian schools is still in the emerging stage. Recently, the education policy in India has placed a strong emphasis on teachers' use of digital tools such as VR in the classroom. However, without proper professional development for teachers in using VR digital tools, the aim of the policy might not lead to promoting better learning. Teachers may lack the necessary skills and competency to effectively adopt the VR tools. Currently, it is unclear what efforts are being made to expose primary school teachers to adopt and use VR in the classroom. A gap exists in efforts being made to explore the impact of professional development in VR on teachers' pedagogical practices. Although some studies have been conducted in the southern part of India, there is no known study that has examined the impact of professional development (PD) on primary teachers' views of implementing VR in their classrooms. This study will therefore use a mixed-method research design approach to explore the impact of  PD on teachers' perceptions, attitudes, and intentions regarding the adoption of VR in the classrooms. Primary school teachers in Kolkata, India, will be participating in VR professional development workshops. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), two instruments, a survey and a semi-structured interview, will be used to collect data on the teachers' perceptions and willingness to adopt VR technology. The results will help to understand whether trained primary teachers have any significant changes in their perceptions, attitudes, and intentions to adopt VR technology. The findings of this study will provide valuable insights for educational policymakers, school principals, and curricula to enhance the government policy of incorporating virtual classrooms in the Indian educational system.

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