INTEGRATING VIRTUAL REALITY INTO 3D DESIGN CURRICULUM

Virtual Reality technologies adoption by industry has accelerated increasing the need for rapid integration into 3D Digital Design education curriculum. There has been additional acceleration of other 3D design tools in addition to multi-field convergence. Two topics of investigation will be presented: Choosing VR by presenting how other new technologies have been pursue in curriculum and how to build an adaptive curriculum which accommodates a continuous new integration, adoption and obsolescence filtering process.

Design thinking and education continues to evolve as new technologies are rapidly being added to every field. Virtual Reality within 3D Computer Graphics tools continue to evolve at a rapid pace. New hardware for doing motion capture, simulation, photogrammetry, augmented and virtual reality are on the edge of further transforming this field with additional crossover and multi field convergence. Several strategies for analyzing and adopting new technologies will be presented. A specific case study will be presented from two courses at the Rochester Institute of Technology: Real Time Design and Physical Interface Design. Which have prototyped with and integrated multiple new technologies over the last 5 years. The focus of this discussion will conclude with integration of the HTC Vive Virtual Reality platform as the start of a new technology cycle with some speculation as to what additional technology integration will be connected to this in the near future.

Many technologies in the Real Time Design and Physical Interface Design courses have been tested by the professor and students, and integrated into the curriculum. The analysis and context for how they “taught” as well as questions asked to the students have been more valuable as learning tools. The key element of learning with new technologies has been the research within the education process of anticipated future technologies. Finally, there will be a presentation of the transition and filtering process that has gone on with various software and hardware over the past 5 years which will present for discussion strategies used in adopting, retaining and planning for technology obsolescence while constantly updating curriculum.