Immersive virtual reality as a tool to improve bridge teaching communication

Abstract

The objective of bridge teaching is to provide students with knowledge of bridge construction and lay a solid foundation for further in-depth study and work practice. However, the current bridge teaching has the following limitations: (1) the “spoon-feeding” teaching is dominated by teachers; (2) the teaching material lacks intuitiveness, practice, and interactivity. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) enables the possibility of representing abstract bridge concepts in a 3D manner while stimulating student engagement and motivation in the learning process. In this article, we attempt to use IVR as a tool to improve the student’s engagement and teaching communication. The automatic generation of bridge scenes in 3D, immersive interaction, and teaching communication evaluation are discussed in detail. Finally, a mega suspension bridge under construction is selected as a case for experiment analysis. The results of the experiment show that the combination of IVR and bridge teaching can effectively improve the students’ learning interests and teaching communication. The percentages of students who were very satisfied and satisfied with the immersive bridge teaching were 39.6% and 54.2% respectively, which proves that IVR has great potential and positive outcomes in education.