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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