Purpose: This paper provides an analysis and insight into undergraduate student views concerning the use of virtual reality technology towards whether it has the potential to support and provide novel pedagogical avenues towards teaching and learning in higher education. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain student views about the application of VR technology within their degree programmes from a pedagogical perspective in addition to identifying potential challenges to VR adoption. Design/methodology/approach: The research design adopted a mixed methods approach through the use of a questionnaire that was disseminated to undergraduate students studying in the discipline area of the creative industries. Through a series of open and closed questions, student views on VR adoption in higher education were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results were analysed statistically through a series of Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests. The qualitative statements were contextualised in the overall perspective of the research with the more relevant viewpoints identified to coincide with aspects of VR discovered in the literature. Findings: The predominant findings of the research indicated that the majority of the students considered the use of VR to have useful pedagogical implications though not all findings were positive. The findings provided a sound overview of the benefits and potential drawbacks of VR use in general with a more specific focus in an educational context. Research limitations/implications: Limitations of the research include the lack of overall generalisations that can be formed from the study due to the sample size and the fact that the results were based from one specific academic institution. Practical implications: The findings of the research will provide educators with an insight into various perceptions of VR adoption within higher education. This will aid towards allowing them to reflect on whether VR is an appropriate tool to integrate within their curriculum and pedagogical approaches towards course delivery. Originality/value: Though several studies have explored the use of VR in multiple contexts and subject areas, there still needs to be more research towards its potential drawbacks in a teaching and learning scenario and how to resolve these issues.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitudes of staff and students towards adopting the use of e-portfolios for the purposes of supporting the concept of personal development planning (PDP). The study compares and contrasts the views and opinions of staff and students at one UK Higher Education Institution (HEI) about whether e-portfolios can support PDP.Design/methodology/approach: Adopting a case study approach, this study presents empirical data gathered from two surveys involving 460 students and 182 lecturers from one UK HEI, collected from four different campuses across the West of Scotland.Findings: The results of the surveys showed that the framework the authors used in the research to collect information about students and staffs attitudes was effective and that further research is merited for a more extensive investigation into PDP e-portfolio usage within HEI.Research limitations/implications: The research was conducted at only one UK HEI so at this stage of the research, it is difficult to assess how generalisable the findings are.Practical implications: This study provides useful empirical evidence to educators who may be considering employing e-portfolios within an educational context. For example, the views of students and staff identified in this paper can aid towards informing educators about some of the issues that might impact on using e-portfolios for supporting PDP in higher education.Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work that presents survey data on both students’ and lecturers’ attitudes towards e-portfolio use to support and facilitate PDP.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a semi-experimental study conducted over a period of two years of five degree programmes using a web-based personal tutoring system to enhance learner engagement and students’ self-efficacy, towards using personal development planning (PDP) e-portfolios. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a semi-experimental approach using quantitative methods utilising a pre- and post-test design in the form of a general self-efficacy questionnaire inventory. Findings: The study investigated the extent to which using a virtual learning environment web-based personal tutoring system (VLE WBPTS) can impact positively on the learners’ self-efficacy of the students’ undertaking a degree programme which promotes engagement with PDP e-portfolios. Research limitations/implications: More empirical research is required to establish whether PDP and e-portfolios have a positive effect on students’ perceived self-efficacy. Further testing is required to establish whether the VLE WBPTS can have a positive effect on other beneficial elements associated with PDP and e-portfolio usage such as students: learning styles, learner conscientiousness, reflective thinking and effective learner skills. Practical implications: The introduction of interventions that involve the utilisation of a VLE WBPTS may have a more significant impact and yield positive results when the period of usage is extended beyond the initial period of six weeks to a minimum period of 12 weeks. Originality/value: This study was one of few studies to use a pre/post-test design to collect and analyse empirical data about whether a VLE WBPTS can have a positive effect on students’ self-efficacy towards using PDP e-portfolios.

An important part of educational effective practice is performing evaluations to optimise learning. Applying evaluation criteria to virtual and personal learning environments enables educators to assess whether the technologies used are producing the intended effect. As online educational technologies become more sophisticated so does the need to evaluate them. This chapter suggests that traditional educational evaluation frameworks for evaluating e-Learning are insufficient for application to LMS e-portfolios. To address this problem we have developed evaluation criteria designed to assess the usability of LMS e-portfolios used within higher education. One of the main problems with evaluating the usability of LMS e-portfolio is that there is a distinct lack of empirical evidence of evaluation criteria designed and developed for evaluating e-portfolios. This chapter describes the results of applying newly developed LMS e-portfolio evaluation criteria within one UK higher education institution.