Research Article

Teachers’ perceptions of the challenges in integrating augmented reality, virtual reality, and extended reality into higher education

Julio Cabero-Almenara 1 , Carmen Llorente-Cejudo 1 , Cristóbal Ballesteros-Regaña 1 , María Victoria Fernández-Scagliusi 1 *
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1 University of Seville, Seville, SPAIN* Corresponding Author
Contemporary Educational Technology, 18(4), October 2026, ep690, https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/19274
Published: 17 September 2026
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ABSTRACT

This study investigates the perceptions of university faculty regarding the challenges of integrating augmented reality, virtual reality, and extended reality technologies into higher education. Using a non-experimental design, a Likert-type questionnaire was administered to a sample of 775 faculty members from Spanish and Ibero-American universities to assess difficulties across five dimensions: technical, pedagogical, economic, resistance to change, and ethical-social. The results indicate that faculty perceive these challenges as significant, with economic (mean [M] = 8.04) and pedagogical (M = 7.40) barriers being rated as the most prominent. The most highly rated issues include insufficient faculty training (M = 8.50), the lack of clear educational models (M = 8.22), and the absence of financial incentives (M = 8.08). While no significant gender-based differences were found in the overall score or in four of the five dimensions, female faculty rated ethical-social barriers significantly higher. The analysis also identified statistically significant variations based on university location (with Ibero-American faculty perceiving greater difficulties than their Spanish counterparts), as well as age and teaching experience, where older and more experienced faculty reported a stronger perception of the challenges. The study concludes that overcoming these barriers requires strategic institutional measures, including faculty training programs with a strong pedagogical focus, robust financial planning that accounts for maintenance and updates, and the promotion of a culture of innovation to facilitate the effective adoption of these technologies.
Keywords: augmented reality, virtual reality, extended reality, higher education, faculty perceptions, adoption barriers

CITATION (APA)

Cabero-Almenara, J., Llorente-Cejudo, C., Ballesteros-Regaña, C., & Fernández-Scagliusi, M. V. (2026). Teachers’ perceptions of the challenges in integrating augmented reality, virtual reality, and extended reality into higher education. Contemporary Educational Technology, 18(4), ep690. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/19274

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