Incorporation of peer‐feedback into the pedagogical use of spherical video‐based virtual reality in writing education

Writing is a fundamental skill linked closely with academic achievement, day‐to‐day communication, formal negotiations, and more. However, due to their lack of contextual experience, learning to write has been a demanding and complex cognitive process for most learners. As a result, learners struggle to exhibit positive learning behaviours and cognitive engagement in writing, let alone embrace deep and autonomous learning. To solve these problems, in the present study, a spherical video‐based virtual reality (SVVR) learning environment is developed to provide students with a contextual learning experience. Moreover, a peer feedback strategy is used to guide students in deep learning in writing. A quasi‐experimental study was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. A total of 79 students from one primary school in southeast China were recruited. The students were assigned to either the experimental group (EG) exposed to the peer‐feedback‐based SVVR (PF‐SVVR) approach or the control group (CG) exposed to the conventional SVVR (C‐SVVR) approach. The results show that PF‐SVVR had more positive effects than C‐SVVR in terms of students' writing performance, cognitive engagement and autonomous learning tendency. In addition, the PF‐SVVR approach was found to be more beneficial for triggering deep learning in writing than the C‐SVVR approach. This study further found that students in the PF‐SVVR group tended to exhibit less disorderly behaviours than those in the C‐SVVR group. Our study contributes to the prior literature by exploring the educational potential of the PF approach in the context of SVVR‐enabled writing learning. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic Peer feedback approach provides opportunities for writing learners to regulate their longer‐term cognitive and behavioural competencies. Spherical video‐based virtual reality (SVVR) not only provides an authentic experiential learning context for learners, but it also significantly reduces the cost and the need for the high‐tech capabilities of traditional VR. What this paper adds A peer feedback‐based SVVR approach is proposed to promote students in learning to write. It was found that students' quality of learning to write can be improved by applying the PF‐SVVR approach in writing courses. Implications for practice and/or policy It is worth promoting the application of the peer feedback strategy and SVVR in school settings. The PF‐SVVR approach is useful for promoting young writing learners' cognitive engagement, autonomous learning tendency and deep learning. Further investigations on the effects of employing the PF‐SVVR approach in writing, with anonymous strategies in the process of giving or receiving peer feedback, are expected.