Teaching Operations Management With Virtual Reality: Bringing the Factory to the Students

Abstract

Recent developments in virtual reality (VR) technologies offer new opportunities for teaching management courses. The objective of this article is to present one way to use VR to teach operations management. In partnership with a global manufacturer, we integrate virtual environments of the manufacturers’ real factories in a course assignment. The assignment was used in two graduate operations management courses. Theoretically, we draw on the concept of immersion. To evaluate the effects of VR on students’ learning experiences, we use focus groups and a survey. We find that VR can be implemented cost-efficiently in operations management courses and present one way to do it. Considering effectiveness, we find that students generally perceive that VR improves their learning experience. The presented VR assignment provides students a guided discovery learning, which is active. However, we also find several limitations with the current technology, which can be overcome in future implementations. Teachers can use the idea and findings presented here to innovate their own teaching by the means of readily available and low-cost VR technologies.