Penn State Develops Virtual Reality for Distance Education
Engineering students at Penn State have
developed an immersive virtual reality (IVR) system with the potential to
provide distance education students with an immersive, tactile classroom
experience.
The system uses the Oculus
Rift IVR headset developed by Oculus VR, a haptic glove and interactive 3-D
simulations. The students developed the haptic glove, which is still in its
prototype phase and lets the person wearing it manipulate and interact with
virtual objects. With the help of Unity3D
software, they also developed the 3-D simulations, which include a giant game
of Jenga and an activity that starts with pieces of a coffee maker scattered on
a table and lets people assemble the virtual appliance.
According to Conrad Tucker, assistant professor of engineering design and
industrial engineering at Penn State and the project's supervisor, the system
offers a great opportunity to improve the online learning experience for
distance education students.
"Online learning gives us huge opportunities in higher education. You
can connect with more diverse people across greater distances, for
example," said Tucker in a prepared statement. "But online courses
also limit you in some ways — there's little immersive or tactile
interaction, and sometimes it's hard for students to engage with the
material. IVR systems are a potential solution to that problem."
Tucker has recently completed a study that compares student performance of a
task in the IVR environment with their performance of the same task in a
non-immersive computer program using a keyboard and mouse. His study found that
students could complete the task in the IVR environment in less than half the
time than in the non-immersive online environment. According to Tucker, one of
the reasons for the difference in performance is that "IVR systems give you a
much more natural experience."
Tucker said he sees the potential for IVR to improve the educational experience for
all students, including those in a brick-and-mortar classroom, because they can
use the IVR system to travel to distant locations or even back in time.
The paper about the study will be published in the upcoming ASME 2015 International Design
Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in
Engineering Conference.
The project is funded by a Center for Online
Innovation in Learning (COIL) Research Initiation Grant (RIG).
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].