Improving Engineering Student Engagement, Self-Efficacy, Diversity Awareness, and Retention using Visualization and Virtual/Augmented Reality Technologies

该项目通过在建筑工程与施工(AEC)课程中创建可视化和增强/虚拟现实(AR/VR)教育模块来服务于国家利益，有助于提高学生对项目的坚持性、自信心和多样性意识。学生们将使用可视化和交互式AR/VR模块以小组形式开展现实世界的项目。学生之间的社会和技术互动将使用模拟物理会议室的虚拟空间来促进，学生可以在其中共享工程文物。学生的学习将通过交互式建筑环境、3D虚拟环境中的交互式练习以及提供对学生设计决策的反馈的嵌入式音频/视频来支持。学生将把自己想象成AEC专业人员，并从K-12或社区大学背景开始，以及在学位课程的第一年，提高他们的自我效能感。在整个AEC课程中，更先进的实际工程经验将继续加强自我效能和对工程的参与度。研究密集型机构内布拉斯加-林肯大学和HBCU田纳西州立大学之间的这一合作将为学生提供与来自不同背景的其他学生互动的机会，并针对不同受众对教育模块的有效性提出有价值的见解。虚拟工作坊系列将用于支持其他AEC项目、其他工程学科和高中教师采用这些模块。三个教育模块将被开发并在合作机构的课程中实施。将使用一个介绍性模块与K-12和社区大学进行外联，以引起人们对AEC领域的兴趣。其余模块将用于现有课程中一年级和二年级的AEC学生。这些模块的设计参考了领域学习模型理论框架，包括其学习阶段和兴趣阶段的结构。将根据课程的学习目标和所针对的AEC课程的水平来制定模块。该项目试图回答以下主要的研究问题：1)模块如何影响学生的参与度、自我效能感和多样性意识？2)随着模块被引入课程，入学人数、留校率和毕业率如何变化？3)前两个问题的研究结果因机构而异？每个单元将为多案例研究奠定基础，其中机构背景确定每个案例。丰富的案例说明和跨案例分析将指导改进模块，突出模块的可转移性障碍和负担能力，并能够根据调查工具和访谈的数据解释调查结果。该项目将增进对基于AR/VR的学习模块在STEM教与学中的影响的了解。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project serves the national interest by creating visualization and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) education modules in architectural engineering and construction (AEC) courses that will help improve students’ persistence in the program, self-confidence, and diversity awareness. Students will work on real world projects in teams using the visualization and interactive AR/VR modules. Social and technical interactions between students will be facilitated using virtual spaces that simulate physical meeting rooms in which students can share engineering artifacts. Student learning will be supported with an interactive building environment, interactive exercises in a 3D virtual environment, and embedded audio/videos that provide feedback on student design decisions. Students will visualize themselves as AEC professionals and increase their self-efficacy starting in K-12 or community college contexts as well as in the first year of their degree program. More advanced real-life engineering experiences will continue to reinforce self-efficacy and engagement in engineering throughout the AEC curriculum. This collaboration between a research-intensive institution, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and an HBCU, Tennessee State University, will provide an opportunity for students to interact with other students from diverse backgrounds and produce valuable insights on the effectiveness of the education modules with different audiences. A virtual workshop series will be used to support the adoption of the modules by other AEC programs, other engineering disciplines, and high school teachers.Three education modules will be developed and implemented in courses at the collaborating institutions. An introductory module will be used for outreach to K-12 and community colleges to generate interest in AEC fields. The remaining modules will be used for first and second-year AEC students in existing courses. The design of the modules is informed by the Model of Domain Learning theoretical framework including its constructs of stages of learning and phases of interest. Modules will be developed with attention to the learning objectives of the courses and the level of AEC curriculum that is being targeted. The project seeks to answer the following overarching research questions: 1) How does a module impact students' engagement, self-efficacy, and diversity awareness? 2) How do enrollment, retention, and graduation rates change as modules are introduced into the curriculum? and 3) How do the findings to the first two questions vary by institution? Each module will provide the basis for a multi-case study where the institutional context defines each case. Rich case descriptions and cross-case analysis will guide improvements to the module, highlight module transferability barriers and affordances, and enable interpretation of findings based on data from survey instruments and interviews. This project will advance knowledge about the impact of AR/VR-based learning modules in STEM teaching and learning. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.