VR and Interactive 3D Learning

These are not industry professionals. They are the students of tomorrow using interactive 3D technology to become fully immersed in the virtual learning environment. In this era of 21st-century teaching tools, the Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS) is leading the new wave of institutions that fuse interactive 3D models with hands-on simulations to provide multiple opportunities to experiment without risk and enhance learning for the future workforce. Traditionally, academic institutions have relied on tools such as blackboard outlines, physical demonstrations and videos to facilitate learning. But through computers and projectors, 3D technology allows users to see a person, place or thing as it would appear in real life. This opens the door to a virtual world of possibilities in the classroom, where students can learn about science anatomy, geography, architecture and astronomy by interacting with the content rather than reading about it in a textbook.

Although KCTCS leadership had been looking to integrate the 3D technologies into the classroom for the past seven years, the push really came in the wake of the coal mining tragedies in 2006. That's when KCTCS launched its first virtual project for the Kentucky Coal Academy to show advantages of simulation-based training. A simulation-based training application was developed that takes miners through daily inspection, has them go through parts and demonstrates how the breathing process works in addition to the actual donning process. Such innovative units of instruction can be viewed on a laptop, while others use 3D stereographic projection technology, which allows learning objects to pop out in the middle of the room. For some projects, students enter a space called a CAVE, which has screens on the walls that project a real environment of the respective field such as a hospital room, for instance.

More information:

http://www.convergemag.com/edtech/Virtual-Simulations-Take-Learning-to-Higher-Dimension.html