Evaluating the use of virtual reality to teach introductory concepts of additive manufacturing

John K. Ostrander; Conrad S. Tucker; Timothy W. Simpson; Nicholas A. Meisel

doi:10.1115/1.4044006

Evaluating the use of virtual reality to teach introductory concepts of additive manufacturing

John K. Ostrander, Conrad S. Tucker, Timothy W. Simpson, Nicholas A. Meisel

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Limited academic course offerings and high barriers to incorporate industrial additive manufacturing (AM) systems into education has led to an underserved demand for a highly skilled AM workforce. In this research, virtual reality (VR) is proposed as a medium to help teach introductory concepts of AM in an interactive, scalable manner. Before implementing VR as a standard tool to teach introductory concepts of AM, we must evaluate the effectiveness of this medium for the subject. We test the hypothesis that VR can be used to teach students introductory concepts of AM in a way that is as effective as teaching the same concepts in a real-world physical setting. The research also explores differences in learning between participants who engage in a hands-on interactive lesson and participants who engage in a hands-off passive lesson. The study assesses participants' AM knowledge through pre-/post-AM lesson evaluation. AM conceptual knowledge gained and changes in self-efficacy are evaluated to make an argument for the effectiveness of VR as an AM learning tool. Our findings in this research indicate that both interactive and passive VR may be indeed used to effectively teach introductory concepts of AM; we also found advantages to using interactive VR for improving AM self-efficacy.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	051702-1
Journal	Journal of Mechanical Design, Transactions of the ASME
Volume	142
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4044006
State	Published - May 2020

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Mechanics of Materials
Mechanical Engineering
Computer Science Applications
Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Access to Document

10.1115/1.4044006

Cite this

@article{9961cd9e880d4fe09d3ecc0e82783f50,

title = "Evaluating the use of virtual reality to teach introductory concepts of additive manufacturing",

abstract = "Limited academic course offerings and high barriers to incorporate industrial additive manufacturing (AM) systems into education has led to an underserved demand for a highly skilled AM workforce. In this research, virtual reality (VR) is proposed as a medium to help teach introductory concepts of AM in an interactive, scalable manner. Before implementing VR as a standard tool to teach introductory concepts of AM, we must evaluate the effectiveness of this medium for the subject. We test the hypothesis that VR can be used to teach students introductory concepts of AM in a way that is as effective as teaching the same concepts in a real-world physical setting. The research also explores differences in learning between participants who engage in a hands-on interactive lesson and participants who engage in a hands-off passive lesson. The study assesses participants' AM knowledge through pre-/post-AM lesson evaluation. AM conceptual knowledge gained and changes in self-efficacy are evaluated to make an argument for the effectiveness of VR as an AM learning tool. Our findings in this research indicate that both interactive and passive VR may be indeed used to effectively teach introductory concepts of AM; we also found advantages to using interactive VR for improving AM self-efficacy. ",

author = "Ostrander, {John K.} and Tucker, {Conrad S.} and Simpson, {Timothy W.} and Meisel, {Nicholas A.}",

note = "Funding Information: This research was conducted with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Grant No. CMMI-1547021; Funder ID: 10.13039/501100008982) and the Penn State Center for Online Innovation Learning (COIL; Funder ID: 10.13039/100008321) through their Research Initiation Grant program. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF or COIL. This research was made possible with the help of members of the Penn State Made By Design Lab (MBDL), the Penn State Engineering Design and Optimizations Group (EDOG), and the Penn State School of Engineering Design, Technology and Professional Programs (SEDTAPP). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 by ASME.",

year = "2020",

month = may,

doi = "10.1115/1.4044006",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "142",

journal = "Journal of Mechanical Design - Transactions of the ASME",

issn = "1050-0472",

publisher = "ASME",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Evaluating the use of virtual reality to teach introductory concepts of additive manufacturing

AU - Ostrander, John K.

AU - Tucker, Conrad S.

AU - Simpson, Timothy W.

AU - Meisel, Nicholas A.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was conducted with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Grant No. CMMI-1547021; Funder ID: 10.13039/501100008982) and the Penn State Center for Online Innovation Learning (COIL; Funder ID: 10.13039/100008321) through their Research Initiation Grant program. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF or COIL. This research was made possible with the help of members of the Penn State Made By Design Lab (MBDL), the Penn State Engineering Design and Optimizations Group (EDOG), and the Penn State School of Engineering Design, Technology and Professional Programs (SEDTAPP). Publisher Copyright: © 2019 by ASME.

PY - 2020/5

Y1 - 2020/5

N2 - Limited academic course offerings and high barriers to incorporate industrial additive manufacturing (AM) systems into education has led to an underserved demand for a highly skilled AM workforce. In this research, virtual reality (VR) is proposed as a medium to help teach introductory concepts of AM in an interactive, scalable manner. Before implementing VR as a standard tool to teach introductory concepts of AM, we must evaluate the effectiveness of this medium for the subject. We test the hypothesis that VR can be used to teach students introductory concepts of AM in a way that is as effective as teaching the same concepts in a real-world physical setting. The research also explores differences in learning between participants who engage in a hands-on interactive lesson and participants who engage in a hands-off passive lesson. The study assesses participants' AM knowledge through pre-/post-AM lesson evaluation. AM conceptual knowledge gained and changes in self-efficacy are evaluated to make an argument for the effectiveness of VR as an AM learning tool. Our findings in this research indicate that both interactive and passive VR may be indeed used to effectively teach introductory concepts of AM; we also found advantages to using interactive VR for improving AM self-efficacy.

AB - Limited academic course offerings and high barriers to incorporate industrial additive manufacturing (AM) systems into education has led to an underserved demand for a highly skilled AM workforce. In this research, virtual reality (VR) is proposed as a medium to help teach introductory concepts of AM in an interactive, scalable manner. Before implementing VR as a standard tool to teach introductory concepts of AM, we must evaluate the effectiveness of this medium for the subject. We test the hypothesis that VR can be used to teach students introductory concepts of AM in a way that is as effective as teaching the same concepts in a real-world physical setting. The research also explores differences in learning between participants who engage in a hands-on interactive lesson and participants who engage in a hands-off passive lesson. The study assesses participants' AM knowledge through pre-/post-AM lesson evaluation. AM conceptual knowledge gained and changes in self-efficacy are evaluated to make an argument for the effectiveness of VR as an AM learning tool. Our findings in this research indicate that both interactive and passive VR may be indeed used to effectively teach introductory concepts of AM; we also found advantages to using interactive VR for improving AM self-efficacy.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087451987&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85087451987&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1115/1.4044006

DO - 10.1115/1.4044006

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85087451987

SN - 1050-0472

VL - 142

JO - Journal of Mechanical Design - Transactions of the ASME

JF - Journal of Mechanical Design - Transactions of the ASME

IS - 5

M1 - 051702-1

ER -

Evaluating the use of virtual reality to teach introductory concepts of additive manufacturing

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this