Development of Immersive Learning in a Virtual Reality Environment (ILVRE) system to assist Construction Education

This paper describes the development of an Immersive Learning Virtual Reality Environment (ILVRE) system that can be used as a teaching and learning tool. The system consists of four major components; hardware, interaction technique, software development tool, and teaching/learning content. The fourth component i.e. teaching/learning content has three sub-components; Instructor/Administrator Module, Learner Support Module, and Simulation Module. The first two modules are yet to be developed, while the development of Subject’s Module is described in this paper depicting the development of an interactive VR model of a wall section. The ILVRE goals are 1) to create an interactive VR environment where students can explore the educational virtual world, 2) promote an atmosphere where students are directly involved with their learning process, and 3) allow students to have knowledge-building experiences, have the opportunity for trial and errors, and solve problems creatively, without the fear of making costly mistakes or unsafe decisions as they would have in real situation. Index Terms – construction education, HMD, immersive learning, Virtual Reality