Immersive virtual environments and digital twin applications for education and training
Samad M. E. Sepasgozar, Ayaz Ahmad Khan, Sara Shirowzhan, Juan Sebastian Garzon Romero, Christopher James Pettit, Chengguo Zhang, Joung Oh, Ruiyu Liang · 2024
Learning by doing has always been a significant approach to acquiring knowledge in a specific domain. The rise in immersive virtual environments and digital twin (DT) applications has made learning, training, and education easier than ever. However, due to exponential technological escalation and a broad landscape of different tools, the idea of using tools and applications in specific domains has become fragmented. This study highlights trends, state of play, and the future in educational contexts in three areas: construction, mining, and urban planning. The need for virtual learning has never seemed more significant than in the present times when remote and digital technologies are being widely used due to COVID-19 disruptions. However, the gap in the research needs to be identified, and current practices should be evaluated to address learning and education needs accurately. This chapter presents critical practices such as piling virtual tours, excavator DT for construction education, big data visualisation in an immersive environment, and sandbox activities for teaching topographic mapping as creative cases that can be replicated and redeveloped for different purposes in education programs. In addition, theoretical models that can be used to accentuate the learning experience, such as motivation-based, cognitive, and constructive learning, among others, are presented. Three types of early, semi-, and fully immersive technologies and DT applications for professional training are reviewed. This study is crucial for educators, technology designers, and education policymakers in being aware of current tools and practices in the different programs presented, and it can be applied in other fields as well. DT, gaming, and visualisation technologies are effective tools for applying active teaching strategies in various disciplines. However, these technologies are advancing quickly, and there are numerous varieties of educational resources accessible that could potentially prove useful. This chapter aims to present the state of play in the educational context and introduce different tools and practices in three different contexts: construction, mining, and urban planning.