May I Remain Seated: A Pilot Study on the Impact of Reducing Room-Scale Trainings to Seated Conditions for Long Procedural Virtual Reality Trainings

Abstract

Although modern consumer level head-mounteddisplays of today provide high-quality room scale tracking, and thus support a high level of immersion and presence, there are application contexts in which constraining oneself to seated set-ups is necessary. Classroom sized training groups are one highly relevant example. However, what is lost when constraining cybernauts to a stationary seated physical space? What is the impact on immersion, presence, cybersickness and what implications does this have on training success? Can a careful design for seated virtual reality (VR) amend some of these aspects? In this line of research, the study provides data on a comparison between standing and seated long (50-60 min) procedural VR training sessions of chemical operators in a realistic and lengthy chemical procedure (combination of digital and physical actions) inside a large 3-floor virtual chemical plant. Besides, a VR training framework based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs (MHN) is also proposed to systematically analyze the needs in VR environments.In the first of a series of studies, the physiological and safety needs of MHN are evaluated among seated and standing groups in the form of cybersickness, usability and user experience. The results (n=32, real personnel of a chemical plant) show no statistically significant differences among seated and standing groups. There were low levels of cybersickness along with good scores of usability and user experience for both conditions. From these results, it can be implied that the seated condition does not impose significant problems that might hinder its application in classroom training. A follow-up study with a larger sample will provide a more detailed analysis on differences in experienced presence and learning success.

Reference frames for learning analytics dashboards: The progress and social reference frame and occupational self‐efficacy

“…The VR training simulator, ‘Operate your own reactor’, is a design prototype developed for the Oculus Quest VR head mounted display with Oculus Touch controllers (Tehreem et al, 2022). It aims to train chemical process operators in manufacturing n‐Butyllithium within a chemical process plant setting with commercial chemical manufacturing equipment (Figure 2).…”

“…It aims to train chemical process operators in manufacturing n‐Butyllithium within a chemical process plant setting with commercial chemical manufacturing equipment (Figure 2). The training procedure takes approximately 60 min to complete (Tehreem et al, 2022). This simulated learning environment provides a risk‐minimised platform for training due to the highly volatile nature of n‐Butyllithium production.…”

“…A learning analytics system automatically collects and analyses task feedback data on the learners' actions within the simulated environment. This system was developed in collaboration with experts in the field of assessment and chemical process operator training (Garcia Fracaro et al, 2021; Tehreem et al, 2022). The data collected and analysed during the training phase includes number of mistakes and time spent to complete the task.…”

“…The assessment framework was designed in collaboration with trainers from the company in which this research was conducted and researchers developing the software (Garcia Fracaro et al, 2021; Tehreem et al, 2022) and includes descriptions of different levels of tasks ranging from general to specific tasks. The four levels of tasks are: Overall tasks (e.g., complete reaction phase), main tasks (e.g., disconnect hose connection), sub‐tasks (e.g., close valve and disconnect hose from reactor 1 to reactor pipe), and specific tasks (e.g., turn off ball valves) (Figure 8).…”

“…The training simulator and procedure underwent validity and efficiency checks in a previous pilot study with German-speaking employees from the same company where this research took place (Tehreem et al, 2022), aligning the training with participants' expectations. User comfort was assessed, with minimal symptoms of VR sickness reported (Tehreem et al, 2022).…”