The Effect of Virtual Reality Embodied Degree on Students’ Engagement and Cognitive Load

Driven by the wave of digital intelligence, virtual reality (VR) technology, with its high immersion and interactivity, has an increasingly prominent application potential in the field of education, and has become an important force to promote educational innovation. Nevertheless, the impact of the degree of presence in a virtual reality learning environment on student engagement and whether a highly immersive experience imposes a cognitive load need to be further explored. This study employed a quasi-experimental design, involving 44 freshmen majoring in digital media technology from a university in Wuhan, China, who were randomly assigned to either a PC-based or VR-based learning environment. Through the implementation of the "chip assembly" virtual reality course teaching experiment, the study found that the highly embodied VR learning environment can effectively enhance the engagement of students. At the same time, the study also revealed that the highly embodied VR environment did not increase the cognitive burden of students, which may be attributed to the intuitive and easy-to-understand learning content provided by VR technology, effectively avoiding cognitive overload. This study provides specific cases and practical references for the application of VR technology in educational practice.