Abstract:

The integration of Virtual Reality (VR) technology in engineering education holds vast potential to revolutionize traditional teaching methodologies. It offers numerous benefits, including increased student engagement, improved knowledge retention, reduced gap between theory and practice, and easier access to learning resources and experiences that may be inaccessible due to safety concerns in traditional laboratory settings. However, VR has not been adopted to develop laboratory experiments in undergraduate civil engineering courses. This paper presents a case study on the integration of VR technology in concrete technology, an undergraduate civil engineering course, via the Labster online platform. Multimedia materials, self-paced learning modules, and interactive simulations are the key features of the virtual lab. Surveys were developed to evaluate students’ satisfaction with the virtual labs. Each survey included 10 questions that followed a 5-point Likert scale. The surveys were deployed to 50 students taking the course in the recent two offerings. Results showed that students were pleased with the usability, engagement, and educational value of the virtual lab. In comparison to traditional teaching, this technology-enhanced teaching pedagogy enhanced their understanding of the course material, helped in retaining and applying knowledge, and improved their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It is clear that VR offered an easily accessible, dynamic, and immersive learning environment that developed students’ interest and learning in the field of civil engineering education.

Keywords:

Pedagogy, education, survey, online, technology.