Virtual Reality


Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Room KOL-G-204
2 x 40 minutes

13h30-14h10 / 14h20-15h00:

Exploring immersive language learning using Virtual Reality

Michele Notari, PHBern

Computer Mediated Reality (CMR) is cutting-edge technology that gives numerous opportunities for language teaching and learning. Learners can enhance their language skills through immersion into contextualised environments where they enjoy rich and diverse sensational experiences. Through exposure to specific realistic computer mediated content, they can learn how to express their authentic experiences. The added value of CMR is its three-dimensional representation, construction and visualisation of the learner's concept. In the first part, common CMR technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality are reviewed. The following part focus on the affordances of CMR for learning and the conceptual framework underpinning language learning supported by CMR. Two existing project ideas are presented to illustrate how a CMR environment may be used in different aspects of language learning, i.e. reading, speaking and writing. These two ongoing projects demonstrate the different affordances of CMR and how to derive meaningful research objectives based on the CMR environment.

NB: For this session you will need a laptop and WiFi access (eduroam).

 

15h30-16h10 / 16h20-17h00:

Bringing the factory to the students:
Enriching teaching cases with Virtual Reality

Karin Brown & Oliver Flaeschner, ETHZ

Field trips are a typical method used in the teaching of production and operations management. They help students understand learn and remember concepts for a substantially longer time than by attending class lectures and reading and reading textbooks. But field trips also have serious limitations, especially for large classes.

To solve this problem, we have developed a teaching case enriched with Virtual Reality (VR) where students solve challenges by collecting data from a virtual factory environment. The VR-enriched teaching case provides students an experience that is closer to that of a field trip, than simply reading written case studies and viewing images.

In this presentation we will provide a demonstration of the app and explain how we integrated it into our teaching and conclude by discussing the impact that this has had on our future teaching plans.