The impact of culinary virtual reality curriculum on students’ learning outcomes and acceptance

ABSTRACTTechnical culinary skills are fundamental competencies for professional chefs. Consequently, demonstrating and enhancing these skills pose significant challenges within culinary education. This study aims to develop a virtual reality (VR) system for culinary skill development and assess its effectiveness when integrated into a hospitality internship curriculum. The participants comprised 82 undergraduate hospitality management majors. This study collected students’ learning scores and performance data before and after the culinary VR course. Statistical methods were employed to analyse the collected data, aiming to assess the effectiveness of the culinary VR course and differences in students’ technical acceptance. Using t-tests to compare differences in technical acceptance between the two groups, and potentially employing paired-sample t-tests or correlation analyses to evaluate students’ progress in learning. The findings indicate that the two groups did not significantly differ in their acceptance of technology. However, the culinary VR curriculum exhibited a positive impact on students’ learning outcomes.KEYWORDS: Technical culinary skillsvirtual realitycurriculum developmentlearning performance AcknowledgmentsThis paper is based on work supported by a grant from the MOST, whose financial support is gratefully acknowledged.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the National Science and Technology Council, R.O.C. (Taiwan) (109-2511-H-228-001-MY2).Notes on contributorsMeng-Lei Monica HuMeng-Lei Monica Hu (I-Chen Hu) has a PhD from National Taiwan Normal University, is professor of Food and Beverage Management and Dean of Hospitality and Tourism School at Jinwen University of Science and Technology. Her research interests include hospitality technology education, creativity and innovation. She has published in a variety of outlets, including Tourism Management, the Creativity Research Journal, and International Journal of Hospitality Management.Hao-Chiang Koong LinHao-Chiang Koong Lin is the Chair & Professor of the Department of Information and Learning Technology, National University of Tainan. He received his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from National Tsing-Hua University, 1997. He has authored 400+ internationally recognized research papers on affective computing, learning technology, and AI.Yu-Hsuan LinYu-Hsuan Lin works as Assistant Professor of the Department of Digital Media and Education Industry, National Taitung University. She received his Ph.D. degree in department of information and learning technology from National University of Tainan, 2021. Her research interests include augmented reality, virtual reality, e-learning, and digital tour.Yu-Hsi YuanYu-Hsi Yuan received his Ph.D. from the Department of Industrial Education at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan, in January 2012. He currently serves as a professor in the Department of Graphic Communication at the National Taiwan University of Arts in New Taipei City, Taiwan, starting in 2023. His research interests include e-learning, marketing management, e-commerce studies, vocational education, human resources, and data mining.