Can a cartoon make you cry? Can it make you feel empathy? Until recently, my answer, apart from a certain Pixar movie about a widower and his balloons, would have been a resounding no. Then I witnessed a demonstration of a virtual training technology that changed my perception. I realized that virtual environments don’t have to be completely life-like to be immersive. As virtual reality (VR) equipment costs have decreased, it has found many uses, especially in education and training. VR is effective in a wide variety of applications because of its ability to immerse users in relevant environments. Each application is unique and requires a different level of realism to be effective. Most organizations that want to use VR for education and training don’t have large budgets to develop virtual environments, so the question becomes, how can a designer determine when their virtual environment is realistic enough?

The traditional way of evaluating virtual environments is to have users test them and report on the experience. This method can provide useful feedback, but it results in subjective answers that may not reflect the ability of the environment to promote learning. Advances in biometric sensors have made it possible to monitor a user’s physiological responses while using a VR system. This paper explores the possibility of using biometric data to objectively assess a virtual reality learning environment’s ability to encourage positive learning outcomes. First, it discusses the importance of immersion and presence in learning. Next, it provides an overview of several biometric measures and what they indicate about the autonomic nervous system. The paper then explores the awe effect and how it can be measured using biometrics. It then examines how experiencing awe leads to improved learning outcomes. Finally, the paper discusses the application of this evaluation method to the design of virtual reality learning environments.