Evaluating virtual reality and augmented reality training for industrial maintenance and assembly tasks

The current study evaluated the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) platforms, developed within the scope of the SKILLS Integrated Project, for industrial maintenance and assembly (IMA) tasks training. VR and AR systems are now widely regarded as promising training platforms for complex and highly demanding IMA tasks. However, there is a need to empirically evaluate their efficiency and effectiveness compared to traditional training methods. Forty expert technicians were randomly assigned to four training groups in an electronic actuator assembly task: VR (training with the VR platform twice), Control-VR (watching a filmed demonstration twice), AR (training with the AR platform once), and Control-AR (training with the real actuator and the aid of a filmed demonstration once). A post-training test evaluated performance in the real task. Results demonstrate that, in general, the VR and AR training groups required longer training time compared to the Control-VR and Control-AR groups, respectively. There were fewer unsolved errors in the AR group compared to the Control-AR group, and no significant differences in final performance between the VR and Control-VR groups, probably due to a ceiling effect created by the use of two training trials in the selected task for participants who were expert technicians. The results suggest that use of the AR platform for training IMA tasks should be encouraged and use of the VR platform for that purpose should be further evaluated.     

The twin-cycle experiential learning model: reconceptualising Kolb's theory

Experiential learning styles remain popular despite criticisms about their validity, usefulness, fragmentation and poor definitions and categorisation. After examining four prominent models and building on Bergsteiner, Avery, and Neumann's suggestion of a dual cycle, this paper proposes a twin-cycle experiential learning model to overcome identified problems and integrate the experiential learning field. In the model, an initial response to a learning stimulus or intent occurs at the intersection of a concrete/active/primary learning cycle and an abstract/passive/secondary cycle. The model accommodates four classes of variables that describe six broad learning activity types (engage in, write about, observe, hear/see, read, hear), the three senses these activities predominantly engage (kinaesthetic, visual, aural), six learning modes (concrete, active, primary, abstract, passive, secondary) and four learning stages. Importantly, instead of assigning learning modes to stages of learning as Kolb does, the model assigns them to the two cycles as a whole.     

Transforming clinical imaging data for virtual reality learning objects

Advances in anatomical informatics, three‐dimensional (3D) modeling, and virtual reality (VR) methods have made computer‐based structural visualization a practical tool for education. In this article, the authors describe streamlined methods for producing VR “learning objects,” standardized interactive software modules for anatomical sciences education, from newer high‐resolution clinical imaging systems data. The key program is OsiriX, a free radiological image processing workstation software capable of directly reformatting and rendering volumetric 3D images. The transformed image arrays are then directly loaded into a commercial VR program to produce a variety of learning objects. Multiple types or “dimensions” of anatomical information can be embedded in these objects to provide different kinds of functions, including interactive atlases, examination questions, and complex, multistructure presentations. The use of clinical imaging data and workstation software speeds up the production of VR simulations, compared with reconstruction‐based modeling from segmented cadaver cross‐sections, while providing useful examples of normal structural variation and pathological anatomy. Anat Sci Ed 1:50–55, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

虚拟现实技术在自控原理实验教学中的应用

介绍了用虚拟现实技术构建的自控原理虚拟实验室、实验内容和应用效果，结合高职教育的教学特点，通过研究探索新的实践教学手段，增强学生对知识的理解和掌握，并深刻理解理论在实践中的指导作用。     

EIKON: Teaching a high-school technology course with the aid of virtual reality

This paper presents EIKON, an integrated open educational environment used to support high-school technology courses. EIKON combines state-of-the-art information technologies, such as virtual reality, hypermedia and networking. Our pedagogical approach is constructivism and collaborative learning. Students using EIKON study the evolution of agricultural technology since the prehistoric times. The environment could be used as a starting point for the exploration of virtual reality microworlds and the discovery of multidisciplinary information, which relates to most of the courses taught in modern high-schools (history, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, environmental care, ecological awareness etc). A case study with a sample of nineteen information technology high-school teachers reports on content, pedagogical, and software quality issues. The results indicate competence of multimedia information, very good instructional design, and very good software quality. Especially for virtual environments, all the teachers declared ease of orientation, but only the 26.3% declared ease in navigation using the navigation controls provided by the software.     

The diversity project: an ethnography of social justice experiential education programming

Whilst adventure-based experiential education traditions have long-standing claims of progressive, democratic learning potential, little research has examined practice from within democratic theories of participation and learning. Focusing on a complex network making up a disturbing interaction in an outdoor education programme, I posit forms of structural management privileging institutional design blockaded democratic forms of interaction when bids arose, while simultaneously identifying the peripheral ‘un-structured’ symbolic spaces beyond the care-gaze of educators as necessary sites of creative emergence. Drawing on the work of Lather [Lather, Patti. 1996. “Troubling Clarity: The Politics of Accessible Language.”Harvard Educational Review 66 (3): 525–546], I explore the peripheral boundaries of traditional ethnographic writing, decentering norms of finality and conclusivity, and invite the reader into a critical interaction with ‘a shifting text’ [Babich, Babette. 1994. Nietzsche's Philosophy of Science: Reflecting Science on the Ground of Art and Life. Albany: State University of New York Press, p. 27] and a chaotic moment in the programme.     

Immersive virtual field trips in education: A mixed-methods study on elementary students' presence and perceived learning

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of immersive virtual field trips (VFTs) with head-mounted displays (HMDs) on the presence and perceived learning. A mixed-method approach was used to obtain an overall understanding of students' experiences with this immersive technology in an elementary classroom. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 27 elementary-school students through presence surveys and reflection papers. Statistical analyses were performed to compare immersive VFTs with traditional VFTs regarding students' virtual presence. Further, an inductive content analysis was performed to analyze reflection papers. The results showed an overall enhancement in virtual presence with the use of immersive VFTs. However, students felt that learning was not favorable with HMDs. The result of this study provides practical implications for the use of immersive VFTs in classroom settings.     

Strengths-based blended personalized learning: An impact study using virtual comparison group

Abstract

This study describes a strengths-based blended personalized learning model, the implementation of the model over a 4-year period, and the results of an impact study focused on measuring its effectiveness. The model includes many commonly-used features of personalized learning, including (a) competency-based progressions, (b) flexible learning environments, (c) personal learning paths, (d) frequently updated student profiles, and (e) frequent informal and formal measurement. However, it differs from other personalized learning models by including a focus on strengths-based learning. Strengths-based learning identifies and builds upon students’ strengths, supporting their ability to make informed decisions when setting goals and choosing and implementing learning experiences. The longitudinal study took place in a diverse mid-size pre-K to Grade 8 school district in California. The findings suggest that the strengths-based blended personalized learning model is effective in supporting student learning in the academic areas of mathematics, reading, and language usage. Over the 3-year period in which the intervention was gradually implemented, and one year of full implementation, students significantly outpaced their matched student counterparts in all subject areas. The results of the current study further the growing literature in the field of personalized learning by contributing learnings and evidence related to a successful personalized learning model.     

Action learning in virtual higher education: applying leadership theory

This paper reports the historical foundation of Northeastern University’s course, LDR 6100: Developing Your Leadership Capability, a partial literature review of action learning (AL) and virtual action learning (VAL), a course methodology of LDR 6100 requiring students to apply leadership perspectives using VAL as instructed by the author, questionnaire and survey results of students who evaluated the effectiveness of their application of leadership theories using VAL and insights believed to have been gained by the author administering VAL. Findings indicate most students thought applying leadership perspectives using AL was better than considering leadership perspectives not using AL. In addition as implemented in LDR 6100, more students evaluated VAL positively than did those who assessed VAL negatively.     

Evaluation of simSchool: An Instructional Simulation for Pre-Service Teachers

This study uses theory-based design principles to evaluate the effectiveness of an instructional simulation, simSchool. It begins by examining the simulation and evaluation literature, followed by an evaluation of the simSchool software. It is a Web-based simulation designed to emulate various students (reactions) in order to provide practice for pre-service teachers in instructional planning, assessment, and communication. This article uses a framework to analyze the simulation, according to the simulation's instructional goals and design models. The framework for designing a simulation approach to instruction, based on the model-centered instructional theory, provides a detailed model for dissecting the seven functional layers of a simulation. When combined with user testing, results indicated that simSchool provides a valid model of a simulated environment for pre-service teachers to practice instructional activities.