Integrating immersive experience into hybrid education: a case study in fintech experimental education

The fintech (financial technology) employment market presents significant barriers to entry, including rigorous selection criteria based on factors such as profitability, risk, security, and confidentiality, which limit students' opportunities to enter the industry. The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the challenges faced by the fintech employment market in China. Consequently, it is crucial to assist fintech students in enhancing their professional abilities to navigate the job market successfully. Virtual reality is gaining increasing importance in educational fields due to its immersive virtual simulation capabilities. In this study, a hybrid fintech course was designed based on the principles of outcome-based education theory and the flipped classroom model. The project objective was to provide students with virtual training and project-based assessments that facilitate a seamless transition from theoretical knowledge to practical application in the industry. To evaluate the effectiveness of hybrid education, a comparative user experiment was conducted involving 60 participants (students) from Guangdong University of Finance. The study used median data, average data, and the entropy weight method for analysis. The results indicated that hybrid education has a positive impact on individual-level critical thinking, communication, and teamwork skills. We believe that our study can provide critical data references for global online/hybrid education researchers and contribute to the education field.