A scoping review of the educational uses of 6DoF HMDs

Head-mounted displays offering 6° of freedom have not been sufficiently researched in terms of their impact on users' learning and skills. The issue is multi-dimensional, heterogeneous, and complex. The paper presents a scoping review aiming to map and review the existing literature on the matter. The areas in which they have been mostly used, the benefits, and the negative effects they may have had, were examined. Eighty-seven articles were identified and analyzed. Out of them, only fourteen were considered as having adequate statistical power. Most had relatively small sample sizes and number of interventions, while university students were the most frequent target group. The review identified a total of twenty-seven distinct learning domains in which head-mounted displays offering six degrees of freedom were applied, with medical science being the most common one. The results in the reviewed papers (in terms of knowledge or skills) demonstrated that these devices outperform other tools. Moreover, they appear to have a positive effect on users' engagement, motivation to learn, immersion, and enjoyment.