Situational Elearning With Immersive Technologies

Abstract

<jats:p>Immersive digital technologies simulate key aspects of the physical world to provide visual, aural, haptic and other cues to the user that create a keen sense of presence or being in the simulated situation. There is broad potential application for such immersive technologies in construction, including the delivery of managed first-person experiences of construction activities where access to actual situations may be problematic or risky. The Situation Engine is an application that makes specific and adaptive practical experience available to users in a hyper-immersive digital rendition of a real-world context. This paper will describe a particular application of the Situation Engine to teaching undergraduate architecture and building students about domestic construction technology in Australia. The paper also reports on a student survey evaluating a trial of situational e-learning with 150 undergraduate students, gauging their views on of their learning experiences with the Situation Engine. There was strongest agreement that this video game technology is useful to a specific understanding of design and/or construction practice, with some reservations over the approach as a replacement for actual work experience.</jats:p>

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

“…Maghool et al (2018) developed a VR environment to teach students about architectural detailing and construction processes with an in-game practice and assessment and through a pilot study they aimed to determine the usability and perceptions of the VR game. Newton and Lowe (2015) developed an immersive simulation game for teaching construction processes and it was evaluated for usability and perceived usefulness for teaching. Duckworth et al (2012) developed a simulation game to teach students about excavation, but only usability was assessed.…”

Task complexity and learning styles in situated virtual learning environments for construction higher education

“…This major development in the accessibility of video game technology accelerated the quality, performance and functionality of virtual worlds in the context of learning [13]. Today, in the context of construction education, modified computer games are used in multi university undergraduate collaborative learning contexts [14], in post graduate courses in Integrated Project Delivery [15] and in lifelong learning contexts such as supporting practitioners in redevelopment assessment [16]. There is also much to learn through the application of computer gaming technology in other fields; medicine is a notable example as it was one of the first fields to adopt this kind of technology [17] and has been very active in development since employing the full range of Milgram's [18] "virtuality continium" [19,20,21].…”