Abstract
Over the last decade, virtual reality technologies have been actively introduced to all areas of life, affecting, among other things, the education sector. The purpose of this study is to develop the concept of introducing virtual reality simulators into educator training. The principle underlying this research is to design a virtual reality environment which, firstly, facilitates the development of conflict resolution competencies for pedagogical faculty students, and secondly, facilitates the evaluation of their performance. In this article, approaches to designing virtual reality simulators are discussed. The aim of this simulator is to develop indispensable conflict resolution competencies for teacher candidates. In addition, the current study presents a series of situational cases, which might be solved in a virtual reality environment. Resolving these cases will help prospective teachers to prevent conflict and determine their behavior in pre-conflict and conflict situations. The conflict resolution competency components that can be developed with the help of a designed virtual reality simulator have been determined. The studies conducted have also identified approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of developing conflict resolution competencies.
Keywords: virtual reality, pedagogy, conflict resolution competency, conflict, virtual agents, virtual reality technology.