Exploring the use of virtual reality in assessments

Qualifications Manager, Nathan Evans, discusses how our modernising assessment team is exploring the use of virtual reality to create more authentic examinations.

Virtual reality offers unique opportunities for immersion and interaction. It’s been used to augment the fields of digital communication, interactive software and film viewing – but what could it offer qualification assessments? 

As a qualifications regulator, we are continually exploring the best ways to assess learners’ knowledge, understanding and skills in any particular subject in order to increase the validity of the results awarded. As part of this work, we’ve teamed up with Node XR and Coleg Cambria to investigate how virtual reality can support more authentic and meaningful demonstrations of learners’ knowledge and skills.

Why health and social care provides a strong test case

We began with a simple question: can immersive technologies help assess complex skills in a way that feels closer to real practice? 

Health and social care was a natural focus, as it is a field where human interaction and the complex needs of individuals are central to effective assessment. Traditional assessments often struggle to capture the nuance of communication, empathy and professional judgement required in these roles. By leveraging virtual reality, learners can be placed inside realistic scenarios that reflect the challenges and subtleties of real-life practice, allowing them to observe and respond in environments that are both engaging and authentic. This approach offers a meaningful opportunity to design assessments that truly reflect the realities of caring for individuals with diverse and complex needs, moving beyond the limitations of conventional methods.

This project also provided an opportunity to capture a scenario shaped not only by practitioners, but also by people with lived experience. Volunteers from the Standards of Wrexham Services (SWS) Group, a local advocacy group comprised of individuals living with disabilities, worked with us to help shape the scenario and participate in the development process. Their involvement ensured the interactions felt genuine, respectful and grounded in real-world perspectives.

What we created

We developed an immersive 360° video based on a first-meeting conversation between a care provider and an adult with learning disabilities, filmed in the college’s on-campus domestic house set. The scenario is framed around the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act, focusing on:

• the Act’s key principles
• discussions that focus on understanding what’s important to an individual’s wellbeing, outcomes and lived experiences, so that care and support can be tailored to their needs
• active offers of advocacy
• early rapport-building

A tutor from Coleg Cambria acted as the care provider, while a volunteer from the SWS Group played the service user, helping ensure the interaction reflected the realities of practice.

Embedding assessment into the experience

The assessment is structured so that the virtual reality experience supports both engagement and validity. When taking the assessment, a learner will experience:

1. An initial landing page explaining the scenario and interactive hotspots linking to relevant legislation.
2. Short knowledge-check questions, covering key elements of the legislation.
3. One full viewing of the video to understand the complete narrative without interruption.
4. A second viewing with timed interactions, where the video pauses for scenario-based questions.
5. Reflective questions allowing learners to pause or rewatch sections to support deeper consideration.

Practitioner reflections

Teachers involved in the project highlighted the authenticity of the virtual reality scenario as its most significant strength. For many learners, particularly at Level 2 and Level 3, observing real-life care assessments isn’t always possible due to safeguarding and consent constraints. Virtual reality provided access to realistic, professional interactions that could otherwise be inaccessible.

They noted that the use of individuals with lived experience added depth and credibility to the scenario, helping learners to better understand the human aspects of care that are difficult to capture in written assessments alone. Virtual reality was also seen as offering a safe and controlled environment, allowing learners to engage with sensitive situations without risk to real service users. It was also noted that this form of assessment could also aid the manageability of assessment delivery for schools and colleges as it can be reproduced, edited and reused any number of times. 

From an assessment perspective, teachers felt the activity resulted in a valid form of assessment, closely aligning with real practice and enabling learners to demonstrate their knowledge and skills including communication, active listening and understanding of legislation. They also highlighted the value of virtual reality for learners who find written assessments challenging, while recognising that immersive approaches work best when used selectively and alongside other assessment methods.

Learner reflections

In our next blog, we’ll be delving into how learners themselves found the experience of using virtual reality assessment. We’ll share their feedback, insights, and what they felt worked or didn't.