Personalization of engineering education with the mixed reality mobile applications

Abstract

AbstractGeometric visualization, the spatial perception of problems, and geometric reasoning are always considered essential skills for an engineering student. Although the student can learn geometric visualization eventually, some students with the missing visualization skills cannot follow the instructions to solve the engineering problems. Immersive mixed reality (MR) technologies have been used by the author to help students with object visualization problems. MR technologies virtually project the objects and allow students observing three dimensional (3D) representation of two dimensional (2D) sketches in front of them, while also rotating the virtual model as they wish. These educational mobile applications have been tested in engineering drawing classes and overall improvement of student visualization skills has been reported. In this study, the research question is if some students benefit more from the immersive technologies. Some students have previous CAD experiences from their high school education or interest in technology as a hobby. Playing video games gives students some visualization skills too. Pre‐ and post‐ mental rotation tests (MRTs) are analyzed along with their pre‐existing educational and video game experiences to evaluate the level of benefits of MR technology in class.