Physical, Digital or Phygital? Assessing the Educational Potential of Virtual Reality in Heritage Interpretation

Debattista, Martin

Abstract

For decades technology has strived to provide an alternative virtual representation of
heritage, and in recent years technology has become so powerful and accessible that is
has supported an increasing trend in the creation and consumption of virtual heritage.
Google Arts and Culture has contributed to this digitisisation drive. The trend, though
evident before the Covid-19 pandemic, registered an acceleration as heritage
institutions could only provide online and virtual heritage experiences during the
mandatory lockdowns. This paper presents the results of applied research on Google
Arts and Culture Wonders of Malta and a cinematic VR production of a World War II
air-raid shelter in Malta. Students at the Institute of Tourism Studies, Malta,
participated and contributed to the analysis of the educational potential of this virtual
heritage. Results show that the VR experience of Google Arts and Culture Wonders of
Malta is rather limited in terms of presence and engagement, while the air-raid shelter
cinematic VR successfully addressed some of these issues. However, the phygital
experience, i.e. a visit to the physical site and the virtual reality experience of the same
site, is the preferred combination for students.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 4, 2023
• Publication Date: Jun 26, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 11, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 11, 2025
• Journal: Malta Review of Educational Research
• Electronic ISSN: 1726-9725
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 51-72
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.8088047
• Keywords: phygital, virual reality, heritage, WWII, Malta, extended reality