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Adoption of virtual reality technology in higher education: An evaluation of five teaching semesters in a purpose-designed laboratory.

ABSTRACT: Virtual and augmented (VAR) technology is in the early stages of being adopted as a teaching platform in higher education. The technology can facilitate immersive learning in environments that are not usually physically accessible to students via 3D models and interactive 360° videos. To date, adoption rates of VAR technology for teaching have not been well described across a higher education institution. Further, there is an absence of information on the optimal VAR laboratory designs and cost per student. In this study, a purpose designed virtual reality laboratory was formed in 2017 at The University of Sydney, housing 26 Oculus Rift headset units. An evaluation was conducted on the design, costs, rates of teaching adoption and student experiences over five teaching periods (2.5 years). Over this period, 4833 students were taught in the laboratory across 7952 student visits. The laboratory was used most by the Faculty of Engineering (53%), followed by the Faculty of Arts & Social Science (23.8%) and Faculty of Science (23.2%). For engineering, the units of study using the laboratory represented only 1.4% of annual faculty subjects offered. This confirms that adoption was in the initial stage of innovation diffusion. The laboratory saw a 250% increase in student numbers over the period of evaluation and 71.5% of students surveyed (n = 295) reported enhanced learning outcomes. The cost per visit was only AU$ 19.50. These findings give confidence to higher education institutions that the right VAR technology infrastructure is a sound educational investment for the future.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10639-021-10653-6.

SUBMITTER: Marks B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8265284 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:In this paper, the effectiveness of training faculty in laboratory teaching (the teaching of science in a laboratory setting using experiments and similar exercises) through the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-virtual technologies for faculties in institutions of higher education in the Indian state of Kerala-was evaluated and measured. The efficacy of employing ICT to train teachers in higher education is important, and we have identified 5I factors (innovative, interactive, involvement, informative, and influential) to help ascertain the effectiveness of such technology training during pandemic teaching. The laboratory learning using VL can describe the student's engagement in the online learning process. This work more specifically identifies how ICT helps in laboratory teaching and identifies the critical pedagogical aspects of the ICT. If the technology has these 5I factors, then it will be an effective teaching method for laboratory learning. Here, we used the ICT-virtual labs in science as the technology to evaluate these five factors. The research first began by conducting an ethnicity profile of science teachers in the middle and high/secondary stages of school consisting of classes VII, IX, and X (i.e., students of ages 11 to 15). To evaluate the use of VL in the 5I framework, the faculties in science were divided into experimental and control groups (n = 101). The experimental group practiced in a virtual lab in the first stage, but the control group did not. Test I was then performed on both groups. In the second stage, both groups practiced with real lab equipment, and test II was conducted on both groups. The tests and other data from the two groups were statistically analyzed using independent t tests. There were notable differences between the experimental and control groups: in terms of time for understanding the concepts behind the experiment, time for doing the experiment, and accuracy in results, with the experimental group performing significantly better. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between the two groups in task completion accuracy. Overall, there was a beneficial transfer of training from the virtual lab exercise to the real lab, with the experimental group's average score being higher.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10956-022-09995-8.

Project description:As our society is ageing globally, neurodegenerative disorders are becoming a relevant issue. Assessment of saccadic eye movement could provide objective values to help to understand the symptoms of disorders. HTC Corporation launched a new virtual reality (VR) headset, VIVE Pro Eye, implementing an infrared-based eye tracking technique together with VR technology. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the device can be used as an assessment tool of saccadic eye movement and to investigate the technical features of eye tracking. We developed a measurement system of saccadic eye movement with a simple VR environment on Unity VR design platform, following an internationally proposed standard saccade measurement protocol. We then measured the saccadic eye movement of seven healthy young adults to analyze the oculo-metrics of latency, peak velocity, and error rate of pro- and anti-saccade tasks: 120 trials in each task. We calculated these parameters based on the saccade detection algorithm that we have developed following previous studies. Consequently, our results revealed latency of 220.40 ± 43.16 ms, peak velocity of 357.90 ± 111.99°/s, and error rate of 0.24 ± 0.41% for the pro-saccade task, and latency of 343.35 ± 76.42 ms, peak velocity of 318.79 ± 116.69°/s, and error rate of 0.66 ± 0.76% for the anti-saccade task. In addition, we observed pupil diameter of 4.30 ± 1.15 mm (left eye) and 4.29 ± 1.08 mm (right eye) for the pro-saccade task, and of 4.21 ± 1.04 mm (left eye) and 4.22 ± 0.97 mm (right eye) for the anti-saccade task. Comparing between the descriptive statistics of previous studies and our results suggests that VIVE Pro Eye can function as an assessment tool of saccadic eye movement since our results are in the range of or close to the results of previous studies. Nonetheless, we found technical limitations especially about time-related measurement parameters. Further improvements in software and hardware of the device and measurement protocol, and more measurements with diverse age-groups and people with different health conditions are warranted to enhance the whole assessment system of saccadic eye movement.

Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic challenges our ability to provide surgical education, as our ability to gather and train together has been restricted due to safety concerns. However, the importance of quality surgical education has remained. High-fidelity simulation platforms have been developed that merge virtual reality video streams to allow for remote instruction and collaboration. This study sought to validate the use of a merged virtual reality (MVR) platform for the instruction and assessment of the fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery (FLS) skills.MethodsThis was a prospective randomized controlled non-inferiority study. Thirty participants were randomized between three groups: The standard group received in-person instruction and expert feedback, the experimental group received identical training via the MVR platform, and the control group practiced on their own, but received no feedback. All participants were pre-tested for baseline performance at the beginning of the study. Change in performance was evaluated immediately after training and one month later for retention. Ordinary one-way analysis of variance was used to evaluate the effects of time, group, and time-on-group.ResultsThe pre-test confirmed baseline homogeneity between the groups. MVR was non-inferior to standard in-person training for total FLS times on either the post-test (p = 0.632) or the retention test (p = 0.829). Performance was also identical between MVR and standard training groups for each of the individual FLS tasks. Each group improved significantly in nearly all tasks after practice; however, the standard and MVR training groups both improved significantly more than controls for the ligating loop, extracorporeal suturing, intracorporeal suturing, and total FLS task training but did not reach statistical significance for peg transfer and pattern cut tasks.ConclusionThis randomized, controlled trial has demonstrated the use of an MVR platform as non-inferior to in-person instruction for the FLS program, forming the foundation for future work on remote instruction and collaboration.

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Adoption of virtual reality technology in higher education: An evaluation of five teaching semesters in a purpose-designed laboratory.

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