The proliferation of virtual laboratories in educational fields

Abstract

Since its emergence in the 1960s, the use of virtual reality (VR) has grown progressively. This wide dissemination of VR has allowed its application in an increasing number of disciplines, including education. It is well known that virtual laboratories (VLs), which base their use in VR technology, are very useful tools in both university and professional training. In this article, the main advantages and disadvantages of the use of modern VLs in teaching are analyzed. In addition, the design and development process that must be followed to appropriately create these VLs is described in detail, as well as a small-scale study of the perception that university teachers have about the use of VR in education. Lastly, the reasons why the implementation of VR is not currently as broad as it would be expected, given its proven potential in different fields, are discussed.

Towards a More Socially Sustainable Advanced Pilot Training by Integrating Wearable Augmented Reality Devices

“…Vergara et al [21] mentions a number of examples for using virtual environments in education to attract and inspire students from different disciplines, e.g., electrical installations, hydraulics, or medicine. Among others, AR training means have been explored in virtual laboratories and 3D visualizations [21][22][23], educational gaming [24], interactive manipulation of holographic learning materials [25], and enrichment for the content of a book with pop-ups including 3D or animated AR content [26,27]. Wang et al [28] analyzed AR in the area of education, showing the utilization for different pedagogical approaches.…”

“…In addition, VLs mitigates the risk of damage to a real machine/product or of students endangering themselves when they are inexperienced in handling them, and VLs are significantly less investment intensive than "real" devices. VLs also allows training with devices that would not be available in reality because of the (extremely) high costs involved [21,44]. The latter is of particular relevance to TR courses, because a real aircraft is often not available during the course.…”

Engineering Education in Canada in the Wake of Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Budhu [17] suggests that such labs can deliver the same level of learning outcomes as real labs if properly designed to match a real setting as closely as possible. To achieve such goal, Vergara et al [20] recommend use of virtual reality as the best option. Jong et al [19] suggest that in promotion of conceptual understanding, virtual labs might have more advantages to offer, but in instilling excitement of hands-on activities in students, virtual labs lag behind physical labs.…”

On the Synergy between Virtual Reality and Multi-Agent Systems

“…On the other hand, in recent times there has been a boom in the development and use of virtual reality (VR) applications [8][9][10]. In the beginning, 3D virtual environments were used almost exclusively for military purposes, however, lately, a new software tool to develop virtual 3D environments called game engine has been developed.…”

“…With virtual reality, the user is placed in a scene (sometimes as close as possible to reality) where he/she can interact with the objects in it. Nowadays, this technology is mostly used for videogames development, nevertheless, it also has begun to be used in many other fields (education [8,9], architecture [12,13], engineering [14], medicine [15], emergency services [16], tourism [17], marketing [18], etc. ).…”