Implementation of virtual reality in construction education: a content-analysis based literature review

Abstract

In construction education many research initiatives have explored the adoption of innovative and interactive learning experiences for improving the visual, analytical and problem-solving skills of students. Virtual reality (VR), in particular, has been increasingly viewed as a promising way for students to dynamically interact with information, to test concepts in a visual and intuitive manner and, through real-time feedback, to begin to construct their knowledge and spatial skills. However, with the proliferation of consumer market VR devices and headsets, the question of their appropriateness and specific benefits for construction education becomes even more important and educational VR applications still fall short of offering straightforward VR solutions to consistently realize the said benefits. This also reveals a host of conceptual and empirical challenges in how VR for construction education is conceptualized and justified. This study proposes an extensive review of the literature to identify and discuss contextual factors and trends in VR implementation for construction education in relation to three main foundations: (1) educational theoretical foundations, (2) methodological foundations and (3) technological foundations. A content analysis-based approach is adopted to identify and discuss key research themes. Results from the literature review have provided an insight into the current efforts of the implementation of virtual reality into pedagogy. It has provided a timeline of how such implementation has changed throughout the last twenty years. In addition, this study provides a unique perspective of the methodologies deployed in this research topic as well as an overview of the technological configurations adopted for VR use cases in the construction education domain. Based on these achievements, this study aims to pave the way for new research opportunities in the application of VR in construction education.

Improving Learners’ Self-Efficacy in Performing Design Reviews with Virtual Reality

“…The results of their study showed that students could find a higher number of design mistakes when performing design reviews in VR compared to reviewing physical construction drawings. Mastrolembo Ventura et al (2022) emphasized that VR-based games are more effective than traditional instruction because they allow students to fail, but the in-process reflection enables them to modify their strategies and repeat the process until they reach their goals. Tennakoon et al (2023) developed a VR sandbox to provide students with hands-on experience for exploring complex geological features that make up well-known terrains.…”

“…Despite the past efforts in developing educational VR applications for the AEC industry, conceptual and empirical challenges for the justification of these applications from the pedagogical, methodological, and theoretical perspectives still exist (Mastrolembo Ventura et al 2022). According to their study, since 2001 only 40% of studies in VR implementation in AEC education declared a sample size and most studies did not leverage validated assessment instruments.…”

Unlocking the Potential of BIM and VR Integration to Address Construction Challenges in Malaysia’s Building Industry: A Literature Review

“…Most virtual reality (VR) simulations in education are used for design visualisation (Castronovo et al, 2020;Nikolic & Windess, 2019), construction safety education (Le et al, 2015;Sacks et al, 2013), equipment operation, and structural analysis (Abdelhameed, 2013). Therefore, due to contextual variations and their unique features, educational VR applications still fall short of offering straightforward VR solutions to consistently realise the benefits mentioned above, revealing a plethora of conceptual and empirical challenges in how VR is conceptualised and justified in construction education from the pedagogical, methodological, and theoretical perspectives (Ventura et al, 2022). The utilisation of virtual reality in remote communication applications has been demonstrated to achieve better co-presence and shared emotional understanding compared to artificial user avatars (Li et al, 2019;Smith & Neff, 2018).…”