Collaborative Project: Virtual-Reality-based Educational Laboratories in Fiber Optic Engineering

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该工程教育研究奖授予诺福克州立大学与乔治梅森大学合作，将聘请研究人员将基于虚拟现实（VR）的3D模拟集成到本科光学工程课程中。将为光纤通信开发和评估不同沉浸水平的VR。本研究将确定VR模块如何影响学生的概念理解，VR的哪些方面最支持复杂的概念学习，以及3-D可视化模块的影响如何与学生的学习风格和偏好相关。将分发桌面虚拟现实模块和基于网络的模块。这项研究将开发一个创新的教学环境，并促进对VR在工程教育中的好处的普遍理解。 有效使用基于VR的教学工具可以补充和扩展物理实验室的经验，以改善工程专业学生的学习。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)This engineering education research award to Norfolk State University in collaboration with George Mason University will employ researchers to integrate virtual reality (VR) based 3-D simulations into an undergraduate optical engineering curriculum. Different immersion levels of VR will be developed and evaluated for fiber optics communications. This research will determine how the VR modules affect conceptual understanding in students, which aspects of VR are most supportive of complex conceptual learning, and how the impact of 3-D visualization modules is related to student learning styles and preferences. Desktop VR modules and web-based modules will be disseminated. This research will develop an innovative instructional environment and advance general understanding of the benefits of VR in engineering education. Effective use of VR based instructional tools can complement and extend experience from physical laboratories to improve learning for engineering students.