Making a Reality in STEM Education

Mrs Rhian Kerton and Dr Marc Holmes The College of Engineering

• New(ish) £450m Swansea Bay Campus • Rapidly growing • Diverse student body • > 3300 UG engineering students • > 150 academic staff • Established research excellence Changing times • Focus on teaching excellence to complement research excellence (TEF) • Rapid developments in Technology and Technology Enhanced Learning • Challenge with student numbers, need to be competitive • Changing industrial needs – employability Proof of concept (2016-2017)

• Technical expertise (VR Research Officer) • Small scale investment in equipment • Buy in from engaged staff, upskilling, technical support • Distinct VR interventions linked to specific modules Pilot VR interventions: • Anatomy • Mechanical Engineering Design • Empathy for Older Adults • Beam bending • Inner Space VR Virtual Museum of biology scans. • Rocket Science • Construction Management • Civil Engineering Conceptual Design • Climate Change Awareness Many More Non Pilot VR Projects

Successes and challenges:

Challenges: • Staff didn’t have time to develop skills • Facility limitations - VR is space intensive • Finite technical support , VR department had 50+ projects Successes: • Increased learning gain • Assisted student design visualization • Enabled learning unable to be achieved via any other system

Widening participation:

• Need to increase exposure • Delinking VR interventions from taught modules • Programme level applications • Expanding technical team – Unity Developer, TEL Technician • Further hardware and software investments • Dedicated VR spaces • VR Café • VR Library Where do I start?

• The first question you need to ask is what is the intended use of the application? • Conduct research into what others have already done in the area • Limited selection of commercial apps • All applications until they are released are ‘paper tigers’ • User test for suitability of application • Current non-VR marketing is a poor way to judge VR content Types of VR

• 3 Degrees of Freedom • Smart Phone 3DoF – • Stand Alone 3DoF – Go • PC Room Scale • Vive, Oculus, WMR • Gaming PC Required • Stand Alone 6DoF (Coming soon) –

VR 3DoF • Google Cardboard or • 360 cameras Stereo and Monosphere, pre rendered environments, limited virtual worlds • Spatial Learning possible - see our app Oxwich (pre-site tour) • Cooperative learning • Students 70+% own iPhones which are not suitable for Google Cardboard Room Scale VR: Vive, Vive Pro, , WMR To Develop your own

• Full complex control • Unity • Unreal • Social VR – VRChat, Sansar, Altspace, Neos VR • Sketchfab for 3D models to be viewed • 360 tours https://vr.google.com/tourcreator/ • WebVR 360 cameras • Stereo and mono sphere • Low Pixel per radian be close to the object or interest • Eye height 1.5 meters • Two pictures taken to remove photographer (no behind camera with a 360 camera) • Earlier testing showed users reacted to constant presence of photographer rather than focusing on learning objective

Photogrammetry Scanning

https://sketchfab.com/m odels/71e278be58324d1 78e11f775dd8ea3ec#

Becoming leaders

• Lead the way with the use of VR to enhance learning and teaching • Share successes and drive collaboration • Inaugural conference held in September 2018 on ‘Virtual and to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Higher Education’ • All work available online https://eng-imo.swan.ac.uk/ • Pockets of innovation at a number of other HEI’s • OneHE network

The Reality…

• Innovative use of technology required for effective STEM teaching and to prepare students for Industry 4.0 • STEM learning and teaching provision needs to remain flexible and responsive to changing needs • Power in collaborative working, need for strong leadership