Abstract:

Body Condition Scoring (BCS) is a visually grounded and interpretive agricultural practice used to assess the health, welfare, and management requirements of dairy cattle. It plays a critical role in informing feeding strategies, reproductive management, and overall herd performance. Traditionally, BCS is taught through in-person instruction, requiring direct access to livestock and expert guidance to support the development of observational judgement. However, such approaches can be resource-intensive, constrained by biosecurity and animal welfare considerations, and difficult to scale for novice learners and public engagement contexts.

This paper presents a design-led case study of a Virtual Reality (VR) training experience developed to support introductory BCS instruction for non-expert learners, including students, visitors, and wider public audiences. The experience is specifically designed to prioritise focused visual observation and guided attention, enabling users to engage with key anatomical features without the cognitive overload often associated with fully immersive environments.

A constrained 180° immersive format was adopted, combined with high-resolution still imagery of dairy cattle, to reduce extraneous visual stimuli and maintain learner focus on critical scoring regions such as the loin, tail head, and ribs. This design approach also addresses practical challenges associated with live animal interaction, including unpredictable behaviour and ethical considerations, while ensuring consistency and repeatability of the learning experience. Spatial composition and viewpoint control were carefully designed to mimic optimal real-world observation conditions used in BCS training.

An embedded formative assessment mechanism was integrated into the experience, requiring learners to actively identify unlabelled anatomical reference points through spatial hotspot interaction. This interactive element reinforces observational learning, supports knowledge retention, and provides immediate feedback, aligning with principles of active and experiential learning. The assessment design enables learners to test their understanding in a low-risk, self-directed environment.

The paper documents the immersive design process, including iterative prototyping, user-centred considerations, and production constraints such as image capture, environment control, and system performance. The development was undertaken in close collaboration with agricultural domain experts to ensure authenticity, pedagogical alignment, and relevance to real-world practice.

Findings from the case study highlight how constrained immersion, combined with purposeful interaction design, can effectively support the development of foundational observational skills in vocational and public-facing education contexts. The work contributes to emerging research on the use of immersive technologies in agricultural education, demonstrating how carefully designed VR experiences can enhance accessibility, scalability, and learner engagement while maintaining fidelity to domain-specific practices.

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, Immersive Learning Design, Observational Skill Training, Body Condition Scoring, Spatial Assessment.