Unlocking the power of immersive learning: The FAIRI instructional design proposition for adaptive immersive virtual reality

Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) is a promising tool for providing immersive and adaptive learning experiences by simulating realistic work environments and gathering data on learner's interactions to offer personalized instructional content. However, IVR-supported instruction presents unique challenges due to its heightened immersion, including managing the learner's cognitive load and self-regulation. Incorporating adaptivity into IVR can mitigate these challenges by regulating the complexity of the virtual environment, reducing cognitive strain, and maintaining learner focus through real-time feedback for both learners and instructors. However, recent reviews highlight the underutilization of adaptivity within IVR research, making it difficult to inform the design of adaptive IVR instruction. This paper proposes FAIRI, an instructional design for adaptive IVR in domain-specific training. FAIRI synthesizes recent IVR research relevant to the design of adaptivity for IVR through a purposive literature review, guided by the instructional design elements of the Four-Component Instructional Design-model (4C/ID) and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). The instructional design elements of the 4C/ID-model and ITS are evaluated for their potential viability and further refined for adaptive IVR-supported instruction based on recent IVR studies. Two key design principles are identified for adaptive IVR: limiting IVR to tasks that benefit from its heightened realism and leveraging its adaptive features to manage the intensity of the experience. Additionally, the application of FAIRI's design principles and elements are demonstrated through a forklift operator training case in IVR. FAIRI aims to catalyse further research into adaptivity for IVR by proposing and aligning promising instructional design elements for adaptive IVR instruction.