Abstract:

Innovative resources such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) can be very useful for the teaching and dissemination of Chemical Engineering, a highly complex discipline that is mainly applied to the industry, which makes it difficult to approach students in the classroom of real equipment and systems.

We have explored the web to search VR and AR materials available, but few results have been found related to Chemical Engineering, so we have created our own resources and applications. However, the learning process has been slow and complicated, so we have focused on developing a limited number of resources, that will be shown in this work. 360 º videos of our laboratory practices and facilities have been created to promote our chemical engineering Bachelor and Master. AR resources have been created to foster the comprehension of complex laboratory equipment. We already have experience to affirm that the use of VR and AR can complement the more traditional methodologies and favor a more immersive learning, offering great opportunities to enhance the learning process in some of the subjects we teach. In order to know the suitability and impact of the resources created, a survey was proposed to the students and the main results are presented in this communication. The good results obtained in this work encourage us to extend the activities to a greater number of subjects, activities and laboratory practices.

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, 360º videos, chemical engineering, laboratory practices.