Indonesia is one of the countries affected by changes in the education system and learning activities. Learning media aims at attracting students' interest in improving their cognitive and understanding of learning. The selection of media should be based on the following criteria: effective, useful, flexible, affordably accessible, and most importantly in line with learning objectives. Therefore, Virtual Reality-based learning media is the right technology for building online learning conditions to appear more real and real-time. This study aims to develop a VR-based learning media for welding technology courses. This study employed a Research and Development (R&D) method with a 4D development model consisting of define, design, develop, and disseminate. Stages are carried out in stages with analytical and experimental formulations. The results showed that the total average indicators of the VR learning media material validation witch was 0.87 (valid) and the design validation assessment was 0.88 (valid). It can be concluded that the validation results of the learning media developed are declared valid and have been well tested, and are effective to be applied to welding technology learning.

This study analyzes the effectiveness of virtual laboratory-based distance learning as a means of improving the learning outcomes of students’ cognitive abilities and practical skills in the Computer Numerical Control course. This study utilized a pre-experimental design with a onegroup pretest-posttest structure. The research subjects were 31 second-year vocational students from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Universitas Negeri Padang who had recently participated in four distance learning sessions. The research instruments included a pre-test, a post-test, and a student perception survey to assess the effectiveness of virtual laboratory treatment. The findings of this study demonstrate that the presence of a virtual laboratory enhances learning outcomes in terms of cognitive abilities. The pre-test value for cognitive abilities was 52.04, which increased to 82.36 in the post-test. Similarly, the pre-test value for practical skills was 56.98, which improved to 83.44 in the post-test. These improvements significantly contribute to the enhancement of learning outcomes, as indicated by an average N-gain value of 0.642 in the medium/effective category. We conclude that the use of virtual laboratory media through the Metaverse platform is effective for distance learning. This method reduces the initial requirement of 24 hours of face-to-face learning to just five hours of more effective self-study.