Post-secondary institutions are investing in and utilizing virtual reality (VR) for many educational purposes, including as a discretionary learning tool. Institutions such as vocational schools, community colleges, and universities need to understand what psychological factors drive students’ acceptance of VR for learning in discretionary contexts. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT; Venkatesh et al. in MIS Quarterly 27:425–478, 2003) offers a theoretical framework for understanding students’ receptivity to VR for learning. Undergraduate university students (N = 300) read a description of VR and video training mediums, then indicated which they would choose to learn a novel task. Three psychological variables—performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence—tended to be related to acceptance of VR, which was measured in two ways: (a) rated intentions to use VR and (b) preference for VR over a video-based alternative. Relative weight analyses compared the importance of the three predictors and revealed that performance expectancy tended to be the most influential antecedent of VR acceptance.

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Because advances in broadband capabilities will soon allow first responders to access and use many forms of data when responding to emergencies, it is becoming critically important to design heads-up displays to present first responders with information in a manner that does not induce extraneous mental workload or cause undue interaction errors. Virtual reality offers a unique medium for envisioning and testing user interface concepts in a realistic and controlled environment. In this paper, we describe a virtual reality-based emergency response scenario that was designed to support user experience research for evaluating the efficacy of intelligent user interfaces for firefighters. We describe the results of a usability test that captured firefighters’ feedback and reactions to the VR scenario and the prototype intelligent user interface that presented them with task critical information through the VR headset. The paper concludes with lessons learned from our development process and a discussion of plans for future research.

Understanding how teams function in dynamic environments is critical for advancing theories of team development. In this paper, we compared communication behaviors of high and low performing U.S. Army squads that completed a field training event designed to assess tactical decision-making skills and performance under stress. Transcribed audio logs of U.S. Army squad communications were analyzed. A series of 2 (performance group) by 2 (time: Pre-Contact and Post-Contact) mixed-model ANOVAs were conducted to determine whether team communication behaviors changed for squads after coming under duress from hostile contact. Significant main effects for time were found for several communication labels indicating communication patterns differed as task complexity and stressors increased. Significant interaction effects were found between time and performance group for the number of commands given by squad leaders and overall speech frequency. Results highlight the value of examining communications at a granular level as adaptive patterns may otherwise be overlooked.