STEM Education Research
Featured Project 1.
Virtual/Augmented-Reality-Based Discipline Exploration Rotations (VADERs)
There have been two persistent nationwide problems in engineering education: retention and capacity building for a diverse and inclusive engineering workforce. To address these problems, this project aims to develop Virtual/Augmented-Reality-Based Discipline Exploration Rotations (VADERs), a collection of modules that provide engaging virtual explorations of an engineering discipline and its subdisciplines. VADERs combine various visualization and AR/VR techniques with traditional engineering tasks to connect engineering education to real-world problems to improve student engagement, self-efficacy, and, ultimately, retention. A special commitment to diversity in the virtual environment will lead to the VADERs’ effectiveness in reaching women and underrepresented minority students and contribute to inclusive excellence in engineering education.
STEM Education Research
Featured Project 2.
Accessible Construction Education through Virtual/Augmented Reality Discipline Explorations (ACE-VADER)
This project leverages the latest technologies in the construction field and construction education, including Augmented and Virtual Reality, Building Information Modeling (BIM), and drone-based visual inspections, to create experiential teaching modules for a pre-college summer camp. The key ACE-VADER activity, an interactive site visit, is designed with utmost care to help all students of all abilities, to consider construction as a viable choice of major and/or to deepen their interest in this field through experiential learning opportunities. In the educational context, Virtual Reality (VR) makes inaccessible spaces, environments and objects spatially accessible and engaging in ways not possible with non-immersive images or videos. One of the unique aspects of the ACE-VADER project was developing an interactive virtual site visit. The initial site visit was a single scene with no interactivity. After getting feedback from various Construction Science and Management Students through a class demo (BC 2631), the researchers worked on a much more complex module. The virtual site visit was for the Children’s Hospital complex that is being jointly built by Brasfield & Gorrie and JE Dunn, two large nationally known General Contractors. The complexity of the project allowed for 360 recording of various phases of the project. Pre-corded questions and answers, and avatars, made the site visit further engaging.
ACE-VADER team members:
- Professors: Ece Erdogmus, Javier Irizarry, and Pardis Pishdad-Bozorgi
- Current and former graduate students: Barbara Spitzer, Steven Kangisser and Jong Han Yoon from the School of Building Construction
- Maureen Linden and Zerrin Ondin from the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation
- Ben Kreimer from Emerging Media, LLC.
Industry Partners:
The finalized virtual site visit module showcases the Children’s Hospital complex that is being jointly built by Brasfield & Gorrie and JE Dunn, two large nationally-known general contractors, who also support the School with advisory board membership and other contributions.
1. E. Erdogmus, E. Ryherd, H. A. Diefes-Dux and C. Armwood-Gordon, "Use of Virtual Reality to Improve Engagement and Self-Efficacy in Architectural Engineering Disciplines," 2021 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2021, pp. 1-7, doi: 10.1109/FIE49875.2021.9637182.
2. McArthur, M., Diefes-Dux, H., & Ryherd, E. (2022). Impact of a VR/AR Module on First-Year Students' Understanding of Architectural Engineering: A Comparison Across Demographics. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings.
3. Spitzer, B.O.; Ma, J.H.; Erdogmus, E.; Kreimer, B.; Ryherd, E.; Diefes-Dux, H. Framework for the Use of Extended Reality Modalities in AEC Education. Buildings 2022, 12, 2169. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12122169