Developing Professional Vision in Physical Education Teacher Education through Virtual Reality: Experiencing a Structured Diagnostic Learning Environment
Pedagogy & Curriculum Specialist Content Areas Technology in PE
Hanoi 2026
Developing Professional Vision in Physical Education Teacher Education through Virtual Reality: Experiencing a Structured Diagnostic Learning Environment
Stuhr, C. & Stöckel, T.
Department of Sport Science, University of Rostock
Professional vision—the ability to notice, interpret, and reason about relevant classroom events—is widely regarded as a core component of teacher expertise. In physical education (PE), developing such competence is particularly challenging due to the complexity, simultaneity, and dynamic nature of instructional processes. Consequently, teacher educators face the challenge of creating learning environments that allow pre-service teachers to engage systematically with authentic teaching situations while connecting observation, diagnosis, and instructional decision-making.
This interactive workshop presents and allows participants to experience a Virtual Reality (VR)-supported learning environment developed for PE teacher education. The approach is based on authentic classroom footage recorded in real PE lessons and combines immersive observation with a structured diagnostic process. Participants work in groups of three and analyze a ten-minute lesson sequence using a diagnostic protocol. The lesson can be viewed up to three times, each viewing serving a distinct purpose: (1) describing the instructional situation using didactic observation criteria, (2) evaluating lesson quality along four dimensions—organization, student competence, student motivation, and personal relevance of the lesson for students—and (3) deriving instructional actions that could improve lesson quality.
A particular focus is placed on linking diagnostic judgments to pedagogical decision-making. Participants are encouraged to identify which aspects of teaching can be modified and to reflect on how specific instructional changes may affect different dimensions of lesson quality. Through this process, observation, diagnosis, reflection, and action planning are systematically connected.
The workshop invites participants to critically explore the potential of immersive technologies for fostering professional vision, diagnostic competence, reflective practice, and instructional decision-making in teacher education. Beyond experiencing the VR environment firsthand, participants will discuss the pedagogical design principles underlying the approach and reflect on opportunities and limitations of VR-based case work in preparing future physical education teachers.
Conference Edition:
Hanoi 2026
Hanoi 2026
Job Role Applicability:
- Early Years
- Primary Years
- Middle Years
- Secondary Years
- Coaches
Tags:
- Models Based Approach
- Physical Literacy
- Positive Education
- Sports Education
- Sports Science
- Technology
- Diagnostics
- Professional Vision
Type of Session:
Presentation
Presentation
Most applicable to educators working in the following areas:
- Upper Elementary [Age 8 - 10]
- Middle School [Age 11 - 13]
- High School [Age 14 - 17]
