Student Perceptions of an AI-Enhanced Virtual Reality University Office Environment: An Observation-Based Empirical Study

Abstract

There is a growing trend of merging artificial intelligence (AI) with virtual reality (VR) in higher education, and there is a lack of research on students' perceptions of an AI-enhanced VR office environment. This study employed a mixed-methods approach. Here, 58 students participated in a pre-session questionnaire concerning their exposure to technologies. Furthermore, 29 students observed a live demonstration of an AI-integrated VR university office and completed a post-session questionnaire. The post-session survey was designed to measure five constructs (observation quality, presence and realism, AI feature perception, usability and adoption intent, and future readiness). We used items adapted from well-established technology-acceptance and presence scales (the Technology Acceptance Model and its VR-specific extensions, and the Witmer & Singer presence questionnaire), which exhibit good internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha values ranging from 0.86 to 0.97 for each cluster. There was a significant difference between the level of technology familiarity with the participants, in that they were more likely to be using AI tools extensively (M = 4.26/5) than they were to use VR (M = 1.88/5). High accuracy of perceived AI (M = 4.48/5) and clarity of observation (M = 4.39/5), but more moderate ratings of comfort in relying on AI (M = 3.83/5) and privacy concerns (M = 3.24/5) were noted after the session, indicating a competence-trust gap. AI was seen as a helpful administrative tool, and there were some concerns about data privacy and dependency, with a general trend of conditional implementation of AI. These results are preliminary, as they are observation-based, single-institution, and come from a relatively small sample size after the sessions, but they do provide some early, concrete insights regarding the design of VR spaces that incorporate AI technology in higher education.