A 3D Visual Programming Language for Tangible Coding in Extended Reality

In recent years, Augmented and Virtual technology has been extensively applied in the educational domain, opening up new methods and opportunities in the field of digital learning. A Virtual Reality (VR) environment can offer new forms of interactive learning, especially for subjects from the STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) area and Computer Science is no exception. We present XRBlocks, a Visual Programming Language developed for an eXtended Reality (XR)-based block coding system called XRCoding. XRCoding provides an innovative immersive environment for learning the basics of computational thinking in an immersive VR environment. The XRBlocks language provides a very basic instruction set that can be used to build exercises for introductory programming courses. Passive haptics is used to improve interaction and give tactile feedback to the users. Physical placeholders are tracked in real-time, and aligned with the XR coding blocks. The language has been designed to increase engagement in computer education, and has been preliminarily tested with secondary school students. In the paper, we present the design principles for the XRBlocks language and for the XRCoding system, and we provide examples of coding exercises designed to control different types of arcade games.