Enhancing college students’ creativity through virtual reality technology: a systematic literature review

Cultivating learners’ creativity has been a matter of great concern for numerous researchers in higher education since the millennium, as it involves not only artistic expression but also critical thinking and innovation. With the continuous innovation and iteration of educational technology, virtual reality (VR) technology is increasingly becoming a transformative tool for higher education. At present, VR has been well demonstrated in some disciplines by providing various sensory experiences and allowing students to complete highly interactive learning experiences in a virtual environment. This study systematically reviewed articles published between 2014 and 2023, aiming to examine trends in the past ten years in using VR to enhance learners’ creativity, the types of learning materials developed, the types of existing research, and the methods of collecting data. A total of 16 articles were included after a screening process by searching the literature in five databases: Springer Link, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. The results showed that the use of VR to develop learning materials for college students is relatively limited and quantitative research is the majority. In addition, the existing cases are mainly concentrated in art design, engineering, and education related courses. These findings may provide actionable insights for researchers interested in this field and also suggest the possibility of further empirical research in other fields.