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Virtual reality offers vast possibilities to enhance the conventional approach for delivering engineering education. The introduction of virtual reality technology into teaching can improve the undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum by supplementing the traditional learning experience with outside-the-classroom materials. The Center for Aviation and Automotive Technological Education using Virtual E-Schools (CA2VES), in collaboration with the Clemson University Center for Workforce Development (CUCWD), has developed a comprehensive virtual reality-based learning system. The available e-learning materials include eBooks, mini-video lectures, three-dimensional virtual reality technologies, and online assessments. Select VR-based materials were introduced to students in a sophomore level mechanical engineering laboratory course via fourteen online course modules during a four-semester period. To evaluate the material, a comparison of student performance with and without the material, along with instructor feedback, was completed. Feedback from the instructor and the teaching assistant revealed that the material was effective in improving the laboratory safety and boosted student’s confidence in handling engineering tools.
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Work in Progress: Kinesthetic Learning of Network Mechanics using Force Feedback Technology
Recent advancements in haptic force feedback technologies enable novel opportunities for the teaching of science and engineering by augmenting classical laboratory experiments with haptic experiences that provide deeper insight into the connections between theory and experiment. This contribution describes the development and implementation of a ‘kinesthetic teaching toolkit’ for the particular purpose of teaching mechanical properties of polymer networks. In the first part the background of ‘network mechanics’ is introduced at a level consistent with undergraduate and graduate courses on Polymer Science and Engineering that are being offered at Carnegie Mellon University. The challenges associated with the design of hands-on experiences to support the teaching of ‘mechanical properties of polymer networks’ are described to illustrate the opportunities for force-feedback technologies. In the second part, this paper describes the process of adopting low-cost force feedback joysticks for the emulation of a ‘rubber extension’ experiment. The opportunities for students to explore material property changes in response to defined microstructural changes are described. Finally, we elaborate the implementation of the device in a laboratory course on Colloids, Polymers and Surface that is being offered at the Chemical Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1709344
- PAR ID:
- 10221769
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASEE Annual Conference proceedings
- ISSN:
- 1524-4644
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
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- The DOI is not currently available.
