ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Digital Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1634253
Through Their Eyes: Enhancing Teacher Awareness of Visual Impairments via Extended Reality Simulations
Provisionally accepted
- 1Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy
- 2Universita degli Studi di Genova, Genoa, Italy
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This study investigates the use of gaze-contingent immersive simulation in extended reality (XR) to enhance teachers' understanding of low vision conditions. Using the REALTER system, a portable XR system originally developed for visual rehabilitation and oculomotor research, participants experienced simulated visual impairments-particularly juvenile macular degeneration-through real-time, gaze-responsive distortions. Eleven teachers engaged in taskbased simulations replicating classroom activities, followed by a structured evaluation. Results indicate that the system significantly improved participants' awareness and empathy toward students with visual impairments. Teachers rated the experience as highly educational and recommended its integration into teacher training programs. The findings support the potential of immersive simulation as a tool for inclusive education and interdisciplinary collaboration between educators and vision specialists.
Keywords: Extended Reality, virtual reality, Virtual training, visual impairments, Gaze-contingency, altered reality, REALTER, Education
Received: 23 May 2025; Accepted: 27 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Barbieri, Pennazio, Sabatini and Gori. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mattia Barbieri, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy
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