Improving Technician Skills in Advanced Manufacturing with a Low-Cost Virtual Reality Platform

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Virtual reality applications have shown promise in providing effective training for technicians. The technology can replace the need for expensive hardware used in hands-on training. However, virtual reality applications are also expensive, creating a barrier to adoption by community and technical colleges. The potential impact of virtual reality on student learning in advanced manufacturing technician programs is noteworthy, given the wide variety of devices and information that technicians need to understand to perform their tasks. This project will develop, implement, and assess a low-cost platform for developing virtual reality modules that can be adopted and customized by community colleges, including those with limited resources. By removing the barrier to the widespread use of virtual reality in technician education, this project aims to improve student learning in technical education programs. The project intends to create a network of more than 30 community and technical colleges that will be capable of creating, collaborating on, and sharing effective and customizable low-cost virtual reality educational materials for advanced manufacturing technicians.The goal of this project is to improve student learning by increasing the accessibility of virtual reality training applications for students in advanced manufacturing technician programs. To test the effectiveness of the platform, the project will develop four virtual reality modules on blueprint reading, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, basic work area safety, and quality control. The effectiveness of the modules in improving student learning will be assessed using pre- and post-tests for incumbent manufacturing technicians and student technicians. The project team will then train faculty to develop and implement their own customized modules and contribute to an online library of all the resulting virtual reality modules. As a result of this project, a consortium of community and technical college educators will be trained to use the virtual reality applications in their classes. The resources and instructional materials produced during this project will be made available via the project’s website so that academic institutions and manufacturers can access and use the resources for training purposes. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.