How Academics and the Public Experienced Immersive Virtual Reality for Geo-Education

Bonali, Fabio Luca; Russo, Elena; Vitello, F.; Antoniou, Varvara; Marchese, Fabio; Fallati, Luca; Bracchi, Valentina Alice; Corti, Noemi; Savini, Alessandra; Whitworth, Malcolm; Drymoni, Kyriaki; Mariotto, Federico Pasquaré; Nomikou, Paraskevi; Sciacca, Eva; Bressan, Sofia; Falsaperla, S.; Reitano, Danilo; Vries, Benjamín van Wyk de; Krokos, Mel; Panieri, Giuliana; Stiller-Reeve, Mathew; Vizzari, Giuseppe; Tibaldi, Alessandro

doi:10.3390/geosciences12010009

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Recent advances in technology have allowed for the expansion of VFT learning outcomes, particularly in the area of 3D spatial understanding, which is usually an important outcome of in-person field trips [Trinks et al 2005;Klippel et al 2019;Bonali et al 2021;Bond and Cawood 2021]. The implementation of 3D visualisations within geoscience and geography course work is well established in the literature [e.g.…”

Section: Advantages Of Vftsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design, implementation, and insights from a volcanology Virtual Field Trip to Iceland

Watson¹,

Kennedy

Jolley

et al. 2022

Volcanica

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Virtual field trips (VFTs) are an effective form of geoscience teaching to support or provide alternatives to in-person field trips. We report on the design and implementation of the Iceland VFT aimed at teaching physical volcanology in a third-year undergraduate course. An evaluation exercise administered following the VFT allowed students to reflect on their learning and provided insights into the student experience. Students found the VFT an interesting and motivating learning experience due to the three-dimensional visualisations, entertaining videos, and being exposed to ‘real life’ volcanic environments. Students made suggestions on how to improve the VFT, including minimising technical difficulties and completing the VFT at home to allow more time for classroom discussions. These suggestions were implemented in the second iteration of the VFT and informed the development of two massive open online courses and switch to a flipped classroom.

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Section: Advantages Of Vftsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Student feedback, teacher feedback, and questionnaires were used to evaluate the effectiveness of VFTs[Arrowsmith et al 2005;Dolphin et al 2019;Mead et al 2019;Bonali et al 2021]. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Design, implementation, and insights from a volcanology Virtual Field Trip to Iceland

Watson¹,

Kennedy

Jolley

et al. 2022

Volcanica

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“…In recent years, modern technologies have greatly contributed to making geological features more accessible and enticing to both students and the lay public. The main novel technological approach presented here is the possibility of using virtual reality (VR) for geo-education, as well as geoheritage communication purposes [1]. We point out that the concept and importance of geoheritage has been described thoroughly in several key papers [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Way to Explore Volcanic Areas: QR-Code-Based Virtual Geotrail at Mt. Etna Volcano, Italy

Mariotto

Bonali

Tibaldi

et al. 2022

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In this body of work, we showcase a historic virtual geotrail on the eastern flank of the iconic Mt. Etna volcano (Italy), along a series of outstanding geological sites and features subsequent to an important eruption that took place in 1928. A geohistoric account of such a major eruption, is of great interest, since it is the only event since 1669 to have caused the destruction of a town (Mascali) in the Etna region. Volcanologists, educators, the lay public, tourists and volcano explorers can now access a series of “virtual geostops” belonging to this virtual geotrail, such that “visitors” can virtually fly above these sites by scanning a QR code on the printed or electronic version of the present manuscript, as well as on the poster provided as additional material for this manuscript. The virtual geostops that comprise the virtual geotrail were developed using the structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry technique from images captured by using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The main result of our work is the virtual geotrail, subdivided in two parts and composed of eight geostops, each showing outstanding examples of geological features resulting from volcanic phenomena that took place also during 1979. Our approach is designed to support classical field trips, and it can undoubtedly become complementary to traditional field teaching in earth sciences, both now and in the future.

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“…Benefiting from a rapid development in motion-sensing and computer graphic (CG) technologies in recent years, VR has become an increasingly prevalent technology in sports and rehabilitation training [1], immersive entertainment [2] and education [3], and more other spatial simulation and exploration domains. For example, in geological research and educational practices, researchers used VR technology to recover and simulate geological heritages, which has proven to be an effective means for immersive visiting and learning by academics and the public [4,5]. Especially when other cutting-edge technologies, such as natural language processing (NLP) and brain-computer interface (BCI), are integrated into VR, people have more opportunities to experience novel products and services, including, but not limited to, immersive storytelling, neurogaming and psychotherapy [6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arm Posture Changes and Influences on Hand Controller Interaction Evaluation in Virtual Reality

et al. 2022

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In virtual reality (VR) applications, hand-controller interaction is largely limited by the biomechanical structure of the arm and its kinematical features. Earlier research revealed that different arm postures generate distinct arm fatigue levels in mid-air operational tasks; however, how they impact interaction performance, e.g., accuracy of target grasp and manipulation, has been less investigated. To fill this gap in knowledge, we conducted an empirical experiment in which thirty participants were recruited to complete a series of target acquisition tasks in a specifically designed VR application. Results show that (1) a bent arm posture resulted in a higher interaction accuracy than a stretched arm posture; (2) a downward arm posture interacted more accurately than an upraised arm posture; since two arms are bilaterally symmetric, (3) either selected arm interacted more accurately on the corresponding side than on the opposite side; and (4) the user-preferred or dominant arm interacted more persistently than the non-dominant one, though two arms generated little difference in interaction accuracy. Implications and suggestions are discussed for designing more efficient and user-satisfying interactive spaces in VR.

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How Academics and the Public Experienced Immersive Virtual Reality for Geo-Education

Cited by 22 publications

References 36 publications

Design, implementation, and insights from a volcanology Virtual Field Trip to Iceland

Design, implementation, and insights from a volcanology Virtual Field Trip to Iceland

A New Way to Explore Volcanic Areas: QR-Code-Based Virtual Geotrail at Mt. Etna Volcano, Italy

Arm Posture Changes and Influences on Hand Controller Interaction Evaluation in Virtual Reality

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