Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) technologies are increasingly marketed to knowledge workers as productivity tools for focused, immersive work. Yet little empirical research examines the lived experience of sustained VR use for complex academic writing tasks. This study presents a 10-week diary study of a doctoral candidate using VR to compose her dissertation during summer 2025. Through weekly reflective entries, screen recordings, and artifact analysis, we examine the user experience dimensions of immersive academic writing. Our thematic analysis reveals six major findings: (1) technical infrastructure constraints dominated the writing experience; (2) embodied discomfort consistently limited sessions to 30–50 min; (3) affective dimensions shaped productivity; (4) learning curves remained steep throughout the study; (5) task type significantly influenced success, with structured administrative writing outperforming open-ended academic drafting; and (6) technical disruptions fragmented flow and made momentum recovery difficult. We argue that VR writing tools require task-appropriate design, realistic session expectations, and user agency to discontinue when needs are not met. These findings contribute user-centered evidence to technical communication scholarship on emerging composing technologies and offer practical guidance for graduate writing programs.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2026-05-06
DOI
10.1177/00472816261429914
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (104) · 22 in this index

  1. Training and simulation for patient safety
    BMJ Quality & Safety
  2. State of the art of virtual reality technologyProceedings of the 2016 IEEE Aerospace Conference
  3. Apple Vision Pro. (2025). Spatial computing. https://www.apple.com/apple-vision-pro/
  4. Experience on demand: What virtual reality is, how it works, and what it can do
  5. Naming what we know: Threshold concepts of writing studies
Show all 104 →
  1. 10.2307/j.ctt46nrfk.4
  2. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. Computer games and technical communication: Critical methods and applications at the inte…
  4. Handbook of writing research
  5. The psychology of written composition
  6. 10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145030
  7. The future of the book
  8. 10.1109/MC.2007.257
  9. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  10. 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
  11. Writing and sense of self: Identity negotiation in writing workshops
  12. Teamwork requires cooperation, communication
    Technical Communication
  13. 10.5040/9798765158258
  14. Computers and Composition
  15. Written Communication
  16. Flow: The psychology of optimal experience
  17. 10.2307/249008
  18. Rhetoric, innovation, technology: Case studies of technical communication in technology t…
  19. Disability rhetoric
  20. Wearable computing, wearable composing: New dimensions in composition pedagogy
    Computers and Composition Online
  21. 10.1080/13639080020028747
  22. 10.1145/2556288.2557058
  23. College Composition and Communication
  24. 10.2307/23042797
  25. The elements of user experience: User-centered design for the web and beyond
  26. The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays
  27. Text entry in immersive head-mounted display-based virtual reality using standard keyboar…
  28. Research in the Teaching of English
  29. Writing technology: Studies on the materiality of literacy
  30. Research in the Teaching of English
  31. 10.1007/978-3-031-02191-6
  32. Pedagogy
  33. Preparing graduate students for virtual world simulations: Exploring the potential of an …
    Innovate: Journal of Online Education
  34. 10.1167/8.3.33
  35. 10.1016/j.jeap.2025.101570
  36. 10.1145/2792790
  37. 10.7208/chicago/9780226026992.001.0001
  38. 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2005.00349.x
  39. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  40. Interactive storytelling11th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling
  41. Shaping information: The rhetoric of visual conventions
  42. Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought
  43. Telling technical communication stories through virtual realityProceedings of the 43rd AC…
  44. Computers and Composition
  45. 10.1016/0147-1767(85)90062-8
  46. 10.3998/mpub.11657120
  47. Making the implicit explicit: Creating performance expectations for the dissertation
  48. Technical Communication Quarterly
  49. Rhetorical accessability: At the intersection of technical communication and disability studies
  50. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  51. 10.4324/9780203966273
  52. 10.1080/00335638409383686
  53. Hamlet on the holodeck: The future of narrative in cyberspace
  54. The psychology of everyday things
  55. 10.1145/301153.301168
  56. The design of everyday things: Revised and expanded edition
  57. Research in the Teaching of English
  58. College Composition and Communication
  59. 10.37514/PER-B.2003.2317.2.06
  60. Doctoral research in technical communication, 1965-1990
    Technical Communication
  61. 10.1007/s10055-016-0285-9
  62. 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2180.2.02
  63. 10.1145/169059.169255
  64. 10.1080/20008198.2017.1414560
  65. Diffusion of innovations
  66. Computers and Composition
  67. Research in the Teaching of English
  68. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  69. Writer's block: The cognitive dimension
  70. Feminist rhetorical practices: New horizons for rhetoric, composition, and literacy studies
  71. 10.1145/1502800.1502805
  72. Narrative as virtual reality: Immersion and interactivity in literature and electronic media
  73. Multiliteracies for a digital age
  74. 10.2307/358761
  75. 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2009.00338.x
  76. 10.2307/j.ctt5hjqkk
  77. Written Communication
  78. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  79. 10.3389/frobt.2016.00074
  80. 10.7551/mitpress/6875.001.0001
  81. The methodology of participatory design
    Technical Communication
  82. 10.1177/00027649921955326
  83. 10.1145/3406098
  84. Literacy in practice: Writing in private, public, and working lives
  85. The lo-fi manifesto, v. 2.0
    Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy
  86. Human-machine reconfigurations: Plans and situated actions
  87. Technical Communication Quarterly
  88. 10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4
  89. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  90. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  91. 10.1177/1077800410383121
  92. Methodologies and methods for research in digital rhetoric
    Enculturation: A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture
  93. Transfer across media: Using digital video in the teaching of writing
  94. 10.2307/30036540
  95. VRelity. (2025 November 20). Meta Quest 3 Review - 2 Years Later! Still worth it in 2026? Youtube. https://yo…
  96. 10.1016/j.destud.2009.06.002
  97. 10.3758/BF03196322
  98. 10.1016/j.jeap.2025.101612
  99. Writing new media: Theory and applications for expanding the teaching of composition