Using Virtual Humans in 360-degree Immersive Digital Sites to Practice Communication Skills within Complex Spatiotemporal Contexts

直接观察专业人士并与他们在现实生活中的环境中进行沟通是一个有益的经验，为学生在工程领域，从航空到化学和建筑工程。虽然可以安排亲自实地访问以实现这一目标，但访问带来了重大的后勤和安全挑战。此外，在组织实地考察时，特别是对教育机构和教职员工而言，财务、法律的和时间的限制是固有的。一种替代方案是使用虚拟现实为学生提供接近真实的生活的沉浸式数字学习体验，但没有亲自实地考察的费用和限制。在这个项目中，佛罗里达大学将在建筑工程教学中探索这种新的范式。 该项目的目标是使用名为iVisit的沉浸式数字环境教授建筑工程，该环境的特点是虚拟人专业人员与学生在虚拟建筑工地上协作。该项目将为工程专业的学生提供在复杂的、数据丰富的建筑工地环境中导航的机会，在那里他们可以与虚拟人类专业人员、工程结构和设备进行交互。学生将观察设计挑战，并与虚拟人专业人员进行沟通，以更好地理解和解决这些挑战。一个准实验和定性的教育研究设计将比较虚拟网站访问的影响，在人的网站访问。 这些结果预计将产生关于这种沉浸式虚拟环境对学生学习，交流和时空技能的影响的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Direct observation of professionals and communication with them in real-life environments is a beneficial experience for students in engineering fields ranging from aeronautical to chemical and construction engineering. Although in-person site visits can be arranged to achieve this objective, the visits present significant logistical and safety challenges. In addition, financial, legal, and time constraints are inherent in organizing site visits, especially for educational institutions and faculty. One alternative is to use virtual reality to provide students with immersive digital learning experiences that are close to real life, but that do not have the expense and constraints of in-person field trips. In this project, the University of Florida will explore this novel paradigm in construction engineering instruction. The goal of the project is to teach construction engineering using an immersive digital environment called iVisit, which features virtual human professionals working collaboratively with students on virtual construction sites. This project will provide engineering students with the opportunity to navigate the complex, data-rich environment of a construction site at which they can interact with virtual human professionals, engineering structures, and equipment. Students will observe design challenges and communicate with virtual human professionals to better understand and resolve those challenges. A quasi-experimental and qualitative educational research design will compare the impact of virtual site visits to in-person site visits. These results are anticipated to generate knowledge about the impact of this immersive virtual environment on student learning, communication, and spatio-temporal skills.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.