Virtual and augmented (VAR) technology is in the early stages of being adopted as a teaching platform in higher education. The technology can facilitate immersive learning in environments that are not usually physically accessible to students via 3D models and interactive 360° videos. To date, adoption rates of VAR technology for teaching have not been well described across a higher education institution. Further, there is an absence of information on the optimal VAR laboratory designs and cost per student. In this study, a purpose designed virtual reality laboratory was formed in 2017 at The University of Sydney, housing 26 Oculus Rift headset units. An evaluation was conducted on the design, costs, rates of teaching adoption and student experiences over five teaching periods (2.5 years). Over this period, 4833 students were taught in the laboratory across 7952 student visits. The laboratory was used most by the Faculty of Engineering (53%), followed by the Faculty of Arts & Social Science (23.8%) and Faculty of Science (23.2%). For engineering, the units of study using the laboratory represented only 1.4% of annual faculty subjects offered. This confirms that adoption was in the initial stage of innovation diffusion. The laboratory saw a 250% increase in student numbers over the period of evaluation and 71.5% of students surveyed (n = 295) reported enhanced learning outcomes. The cost per visit was only AU$ 19.50. These findings give confidence to higher education institutions that the right VAR technology infrastructure is a sound educational investment for the future.

虚拟和增强 (VAR) 技术正处于被用作高等教育教学平台的早期阶段。该技术可以在学生通常无法通过 3D 模型和交互式 360° 视频实际访问的环境中促进沉浸式学习。迄今为止，尚未在高等教育机构中很好地描述 VAR 技术在教学中的采用率。此外，缺乏关于最佳 VAR 实验室设计和每位学生成本的信息。在这项研究中，悉尼大学于 2017 年成立了一个专门设计的虚拟现实实验室，其中包含 26 个 Oculus Rift 耳机单元。对五个教学期（2.5 年）的设计、成本、教学采用率和学生体验进行了评估。在此期间，在 7952 次学生访问中，4833 名学生在实验室接受了教学。工程学院使用实验室最多（53%），其次是艺术与社会科学学院（23.8%）和理学院（23.2%）。对于工程，使用实验室的学习单元仅占每年提供的教师科目的 1.4%。这证实了采用处于创新扩散的初始阶段。在评估期间，实验室的学生人数增加了 250%，接受调查的学生中有 71.5%（这证实了采用处于创新扩散的初始阶段。在评估期间，实验室的学生人数增加了 250%，接受调查的学生中有 71.5%（这证实了采用处于创新扩散的初始阶段。在评估期间，实验室的学生人数增加了 250%，接受调查的学生中有 71.5%（n  = 295) 报告了增强的学习成果。每次访问的费用仅为 19.50 澳元。这些发现让高等教育机构相信，正确的 VAR 技术基础设施是对未来的良好教育投资。