Student evaluations of using virtual reality to investigate natural hazard field sites

Paul Wright*, Malcolm Whitworth, Alessandro Tibaldi, Fabio Luca Bonali, Paraskevi Nomikou, Varvara Antoniou, Fabio Vitello, Ugo Becciani, Mel Krokos, Benjamin van Wyk de Vries

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    37 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    At a time when traditional fieldwork is coming under pressure, be it from shrinking budgets, reducing carbon footprints, increased concerns for personal safety or the desire to make field skills accessible to all, how do we ensure that the key skills of observation, data collection and landscape analysis can still be developed in our students? This paper evaluates the experiences of students using immersive virtual reality (VR) to interrogate highly accurate georeferenced landscape models, made from data collected by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, through the medium of Q methodology. It finds that there appears to be an association between prior engagement and expertise with IT and gaming technologies, such that those who declare some degree of prowess engage with and embrace the opportunities of using VR. This suggests that to allow more students to adopt positive approaches to learning in this manner, educators need to worry less about ever complex and realistic models, and invest more into positive prior experiences of using technology. Moreover, an important voice in the narrative around the physical nature of “being in the field” and social interaction with peers and tutors questions an approach that is still a relatively solitary experience.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)311-329
    JournalJournal of Geography in Higher Education
    Volume47
    Issue number2
    Early online date9 Mar 2022
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2023

    Keywords

    • Virtual Reality
    • Natural hazards
    • Teaching
    • Students
    • Learning

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Student evaluations of using virtual reality to investigate natural hazard field sites'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this