Subject 8: Innovative technologies in the online teaching of the NATO DEEP eAcademy e-Instructor Certification Programme, Edition #4, has ended. This subject focused on possibilities given by VR and AR education, distinguishing between different VR methods as well as preparing the VR implementation plan in the educational process for institutions. Tutors of this subject were three SMEs: Ph.D and Ph.D Karol Jędrasiak, Ms. Iwona Choncia and Ms. Aleksandra Wolska from the WSB University.
Question 1.
How do you think VR technology is changing the way students learn and interact with course materials in higher education, and what advantages does it offer over traditional teaching methods?
PWC research shows that we need three times less time to complete a VR training than during a classroom training, we get distracted twice less during learning with the use of VR than during e-learning courses and we remember up to 70% more information than when watching slides, reading or watching movies. VR provides isolation from interference. It is cutting off from external stimuli, immersion – immersion in VR that is the key to such unprecedented effectiveness of learning. Educational VR solutions are designed in such a way as to completely immerse users in the virtual world and cut them off from external stimuli. Another important feature of virtual reality is that our emotional and physiological response to stimuli in virtual reality is close to what we experience in real life situations. This makes learning by doing, learning through experience, learning from mistakes possible, easy to repeat and scalable. VR gives us the opportunity to make learning more dynamic and immersive, e.g. relatively small VR goggles can even function as an entire science lab.
Question 2.
What challenges have you encountered when using VR, AR or MR for online teaching and how did you deal with them?
The main challenge when using VR in online teaching is the availability of technology, in particular its hardware layer, i.e. VR goggles and controllers. In previous years, when the most common set was the HTC Vive solution, it was necessary to set up an additional set of tripods for the needs of the user’s movement acquisition system. The correct use of VR in this case required appropriate training for users beforehand. There were two practical solutions to this problem. The first was renting the equipment to the end user and conducting training on starting the set together with a demo “test” of the correctness of self-configuration of the environment. It was an effective but risky solution, because users often used the sets in family homes (pandemic times, etc.), and every slightest movement of the tripods made it necessary to recalibrate the movement acquisition system, and thus the loss of activity / the need to start the exercise again. The second approach, preferred, was preparing a set of workstations for the end users in educational and training institutions that had the appropriate infrastructure and staff to prepare VR workstations for work. The second approach was 100% effective, however, it required maintaining an extensive network of cooperation, earlier installation and configuration of the software, and a correspondingly higher cost of participation in the training itself. Now, with the advent of the improved version of the VR goggle technology in the form of the Meta Quest 2 VR goggles and its equivalents, these problems have been significantly reduced. Currently, it is enough to redirect the user to a website where they can download and install the software needed for training and they are ready, because more and more people have their own VR goggles that they can operate on their own. In increasingly rare cases of unavailability of equipment, it is possible to rent insured equipment to the end user. However, the growing role of cooperation between educational and training institutions with infrastructure and staff experienced with the use of VR/AR/XR cannot be overlooked, as we expect in the future that more and more solutions will include physical XR additional elements, which, due to the unique nature of the industry, rather will be available in specialized facilities, rather than in individual homes of end users.
The main challenge in using AR in practice is, unfortunately, the very principle of operation of the glasses that are used for AR. These glasses should convince our eyes with an appropriate stream of light that they see some additional elements (AR). However, this approach, which works perfectly in darkened rooms, is vulnerable to the full sun of a cloudless day. Unfortunately, this means that the greatest potential of AR technology for outdoor use to visualize additional navigation data, supporting decision making, is limited to working indoors and at night.
Question 3.
Can you describe a specific example of how VR technology has been used in your courses to improve student learning and how it has had an impact on their engagement and understanding?
Old age simulator – allows our students of Nursing, Emergency Medicine or Pedagogy to experience what it’s like when your eyesight fails, your joints lose mobility and you simply have less strength. Students can better understand elderly patients. It is an educational tool for learning empathy and raising awareness about the challenges of aging.
Virtual car workshop – allows you to move around a virtual car workshop. The program has several service scenarios, such as replacement of brake discs or pads, shock absorber or battery. In addition, it corrects errors on an ongoing basis and teaches adepts of mechanics good habits. The virtual form allows for multiple repetitions of a given exercise at the same time, without time and equipment limitations. It acquaints not only with the practical aspect of work, but also with the additional possibilities currently offered by professional automotive services of the ProfiAuto Serwis network.
Virtual shooting range – allows for safe and economically reasonable learning of the safety of the use and use of firearms and direct coercion measures. The software enables the display of various targets in accordance with sports scenarios or scenarios useful for security and defense, as well as the detection of the hit point of a shot from replicas of long or short firearms. The software is characterized by high fidelity of mapping, thanks to which learning the rules of safety, aiming, decision-making, working with weapons translates into results during training at combat shooting ranges and / or in practice. Immediate measurement of the shooter’s parameters, easily accessible history of previous training allows instructors to conduct personalized shooting training for their users. It is predicted that in the future, sport shooting and laser shooting will be merged into one in the form of eSports.
First aid simulator – allows paramedics to learn how to make decisions in situations of road accidents. In the virtual world and in safe conditions, they can familiarize themselves with typical accidents and experience them virtually in order to prepare themselves mentally for the real situations and to practice taking the necessary steps of procedures along with the consequences of the mistakes made.
Question 4.
What advice would you give to other instructors who are interested in using VR technology in their courses and what are the best practices they should keep in mind?
VR is an ideal solution in cases where implementation in reality could be extremely expensive or particularly dangerous. So it can be used, for example, to train future pilots or conduct surgery classes at medical schools. In such situations, virtual reality allows you to gain real and valuable experience in a virtual and maximum safe environment. In most cases, it is also the most economical solution.
The virtual world is not free from flaws. Virtual reality technology in some people (especially those prone to motion sickness) causes so-called simulator sickness. Nausea, headaches and dizziness may appear immediately after putting on the glasses.
Another barrier hindering the widespread use of VR is the high cost of purchasing and manufacturing equipment that enables its professional use, as well as expensive and time-consuming application programming. With the dissemination of this technology, the costs associated with its implementation will certainly decrease.
Question 5.
How do you incorporate virtual, augmented or mixed reality technologies into your online courses to enhance the learning experience and what benefits have you seen from using these technologies?
VR is suitable for training cognitive skills related to remembering and understanding information, acquiring spatial and visual knowledge, e.g. a virtual walk within the walls of a university, in a warehouse or in a factory hall. With the use of VR, you can also practice psychomotor, social, communication and affective skills – related to controlling emotional reactions to stressful or difficult situations, e.g. in the use of an old age simulator.
When designing e-learning courses based on the Kolb cycle in the Experiential Learning Model, it is worth using VR training at the stage of experience and practical application. Students may be involved with varying intensity at different stages of the learning cycle, e.g. depending on their dominant learning style. The implementation of VR training significantly affects the building of interest, commitment and builds motivation for further learning. As a result, many more students complete the e-learning courses they have started. This indirectly reduces the percentage of students dropping out of school.
The use of VR is most beneficial when:
- Need to train many people in a short period of time in knowledge, equipment/process principles, critical thinking, communication, psychosocial competence
- Operation of new weapons systems, etc.
- Need to interactively practice all action options in order to choose the best one and develop user confidence and understanding of the consequences of mistakes.
- Use of expensive equipment by those in charge
- Training is difficult or impossible to implement in reality
- Response to nuclear reactor accident, response to terrorist attacks
- Training is dangerous, and any mistake can result in loss of health or life
- Medical / pilot / altitude training, etc.
- The process is limited by the availability of resources (time/infrastructure/experts/components).
- Training of pilots, vehicle operators, highly specialized specialists
- Need to motivate users to take action.
- Encourage habit change, improve morale, build empathy, convey emotion-based content, minimize cultural differences
- Data-driven decision making
- Decision making, eye tracking, biometrics, voice analysis, head and hand positioning, action tracking