Virtual Reality Impacts on Novice Programmers' Self-Efficacy

Virtual Reality has been used to improve motivation and help in the visualization of complex computing topics. However, few studies directly compared immersive and non-immersive environments. To address this limitation, we developed Abacus, a programming environment that can run in both immersive an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics Vol. 31; no. 5; pp. 2395 - 2405
Main Authors: Sun, Nanlin, Lages, Wallace S.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States IEEE 01.05.2025
Subjects:
block-based languages
Codes
cs education
Programming
Programming environments
Programming profession
Solid modeling
Three-dimensional printing
Training
Usability
Virtual reality
Visualization
ISSN:1077-2626, 1941-0506, 1941-0506
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Virtual Reality has been used to improve motivation and help in the visualization of complex computing topics. However, few studies directly compared immersive and non-immersive environments. To address this limitation, we developed Abacus, a programming environment that can run in both immersive and non-immersive modes. We conducted a between-subjects study (n=40), with twenty participants assigned to the desktop mode and twenty participants assigned to the VR mode. Participants used a block-based editor to complete two programming tasks: a non-spatial procedural task, and a spatial 3D math task. We found that VR led to higher gains in self-efficacy and that the gain was significant for participants with lower initial levels of experience and spatial skills.
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ISSN:1077-2626
1941-0506
1941-0506
DOI:10.1109/TVCG.2025.3549567