An evaluation of immersive virtual tours for curriculum innovation and engagement in higher education

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unique pressures on higher education and exposed problems in remote delivery of captivating learning experiences into the future as the sector adapts to a post-pandemic “normal”. Field trips and facility visits have had to take a back seat during this period; as a result, the ability of academics to deliver object-based and visual-spatial learning was compromised. There is a lack of tested, approachable workflows for production of meaningful immersive tools that can temporarily replace and later augment in-person lessons. Virtual reality remains an unconvincing pedagogical tool, though low immersion flat-screen delivered virtual experiences are already considered pedagogically valuable. This thesis evaluates the use of low immersion virtual tours for higher education during the pandemic, primarily in the context of undergraduate biomedical science. A panoramic virtual tour of the Chau Chak Wing Museum was constructed in 3D Vista Virtual Tour Pro software and used to facilitate object-based for first year medical science students (n = 59). Structural equation modelling was used to discern technology acceptance. The tour was edited for a postgraduate business studies cohort and structural equation modelling was again conducted with a larger cohort (n = 163). Additionally, a virtual tour of the National Biocontainment K7b facility at Westmead Hospital was constructed for the purpose of remote education and familiarisation of staff and visitors. Lastly, technologies for creation and annotation/presentation of immersive three-dimensional anatomy and physiology models are assessed. We compare polygonal modelling, photogrammetry, and medical image segmentation in generation of geometry, and virtual tours, game engines and online tools for presentation of geometry. We found that virtual tours are a highly approachable, affordable, and adaptable solution for delivery of immersive learning experiences. Reception from students and academics alike was highly positive. Significant utility of virtually delivered object-based learning experiences is presented. Ultimately, we identify virtual tours as a means for provision of purposeful immersive learning that is complementary to in-person experiences. Innovation and implementation of virtual experiences will continue into the post-pandemic period, to facilitate useful “pre-work” tasks that maximise the benefit of in-person lessons.