Investigating the Impact of Interactive Immersive Virtual Reality Environments in Enhancing Task Performance in Online Engineering Design Activities

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajay Karthic B. Gopinath Bharathi ◽  
Conrad S. Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Reality System ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
The Impact

The objective of this paper is to test the hypothesis that immersive virtual reality environments such as those achievable through the head-mounted displays, enhance task performance in online engineering design activities. In this paper, task performance is measured by the time to complete a given engineering activity. Over the last decade, a wide range of virtual reality applications have been developed based on non-immersive and immersive virtual reality systems for educational purposes. However, a major limitation of non-immersive virtual reality systems is the lack of an immersive experience that not only provides content to students, but also enables them to interact and learn in a completely 360 degree immersive environment. The authors of this work have developed a replica of a physical engineering laboratory in an interactive virtual learning environment. This research measures the difference in task performance between i) students exposed to an immersive virtual reality system and ii) students exposed to a non-immersive virtual reality system, in the interactive virtual environment developed by the research team. This research seeks to explore whether statistically significant differences in performance exist between these groups. Knowledge gained from testing this hypothesis will inform educators about the value and impact of immersive virtual reality technologies in enhancing online education. A case study involving 54 students in a product functional analysis task is used to test the hypothesis.

scholarly journals The effect of water immersion on vection in virtual reality

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Géraldine Fauville ◽  
Anna C. M. Queiroz ◽  
Erika S. Woolsey ◽  
Jonathan W. Kelly ◽  
Jeremy N. Bailenson
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Motion Sickness ◽  
Water Immersion ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Visually Induced Motion Sickness ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Induced Motion ◽  
Ground Condition ◽  
The Impact

AbstractResearch about vection (illusory self-motion) has investigated a wide range of sensory cues and employed various methods and equipment, including use of virtual reality (VR). However, there is currently no research in the field of vection on the impact of floating in water while experiencing VR. Aquatic immersion presents a new and interesting method to potentially enhance vection by reducing conflicting sensory information that is usually experienced when standing or sitting on a stable surface. This study compares vection, visually induced motion sickness, and presence among participants experiencing VR while standing on the ground or floating in water. Results show that vection was significantly enhanced for the participants in the Water condition, whose judgments of self-displacement were larger than those of participants in the Ground condition. No differences in visually induced motion sickness or presence were found between conditions. We discuss the implication of this new type of VR experience for the fields of VR and vection while also discussing future research questions that emerge from our findings.

scholarly journals Facilitation strategies for enhancing the learning and engagement of online students

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-118
Author(s):  
Tracey Muir ◽  
◽  
Tracy Douglas ◽  
Allison Trimble ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Online Students ◽  
Tertiary Sector ◽  
Online Instructors ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Instructor Presence ◽  
The Impact

The opening up of online education in the Australian tertiary sector has made higher education accessible for a wide range of students, including those living in rural and regional areas. While student numbers continue to grow as a result of this opportunity, there are increasing concerns regarding low student retention and progression rates for online students in comparison with on-campus students. Reasons for this vary, however, online students report a sense of isolation and disconnection with their studies highlighting the need for educators to utilise effective facilitation to enhance student connections to an online community. In this paper, we investigated facilitation strategies using two case studies. This illustrated how two online instructors used design-based research to evaluate the impact of facilitation strategies on instructor presence, instructor connection, engagement and learning in maths education and human biology subjects. Findings indicate that focusing on social, managerial and technical facilitation strategies resulted in an increased instructor presence and active involvement, which in turn were influential in motivating students to engage with learning online. The findings have implications for higher education providers and instructors who are tasked with engaging online students. This identifies the importance of targeted online facilitation to enhance learner-instructor and learner-content engagement.

scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON ECONOMY, EMPLOYMENT AND NEW SKILLS

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (Issue Vol 20, No 3 (2021)) ◽  
pp. 409-422
Author(s):  
Miltiadis STABOULIS ◽  
Irene LAZARIDOU
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Professional Life ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Digital Skills ◽  
Digital Collaboration ◽  
The Impact

This paper discusses the economic features of the current Covid-19 outbreak and its relation to labour markets and new skills in demand. At the same time, it focuses on how it started to expand worldwide, while reporting the ways of transmission and their effects on daily social and professional life. It is argued that focusing on skills and human capital could offer a strong foundation for building sustainable economies, as the recent months have been a suitable period to progress and advance digital skills, thus reducing digital illiteracy, while at the same time developing certain major sectors such as online education, ecommerce, telemedicine, entertainment, digital collaboration tools, virtual reality applications, etc. The author mainly focuses on the analysis of the recent global trends in many affected sectors, examines possible unemployment issues with an emphasis on the kind of new skills and soft skills in demand that are necessary for an easier transition to the new Covid-19 way of life.

scholarly journals Using Multi-Sensory and Multi-Dimensional Immersive Virtual Reality in Participatory Planning

Urban Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Mahbubur Meenar ◽  
Jennifer Kitson
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
3D Model ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Participatory Planning ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
The Impact

In the last two decades, urban planners have embraced digital technologies to complement traditional public participation processes; research on the impact of smarter digital instruments, such as immersive virtual reality (IVR), however, is scant. We recruited 40 focus group participants to explore various formats of spatial planning scenario simulations in Glassboro, NJ, USA. Our study finds that the level of participation, memory recalls of scenarios, and emotional responses to design proposals are higher with multi-sensory and multi-dimensional IVR simulations than with standard presentations such as 2D videos of 3D model simulations, coupled with verbal presentations. We also discuss the limitations of IVR technology to assist urban planning practitioners in evaluating its potential in their own participatory planning efforts.

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