The current pandemic enforced many countries to take restrictive measures which gradually led to the complete shutdown of the businesses and the academic institutions. It is undeniable that the end of this pandemic is by no means anywhere close. To this end, education has been hit particularly hard as 1.53 billion students (87.6% of the world’s total enrolled learners) having been left out of school due to the country-wide institutional closures. New technologies and methods have emerged at a rapid speed to accommodate the recent needs. Typical examples include digital conference rooms and online collaborative workspaces. To this notion, the question of how such technological advances will impact the society and the new educational practices is difficult to answer with any degree of certainty; therein, making it a topic that must be considered and addressed by educational researchers, teachers, and administrators. On the ground of this issue, the proposed project aims at setting up the foundations related to the application of Virtual Reality (VR), in Blended Learning settings, with particular focus on the field of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education. The project-related activities can be broadly classified into the following categories: (1) e-Pedagogy: Development of an educational framework to support the design of the VR learning activities and a user manual to guide the practices that educators will follow when conducting the educational activities. In addition, prior to the conduct of the intervention, a series of workshops will be delivered to prospect teachers so as to equip them with the necessary skills and traits on how to utilise the custom-made prototype efficiently and effectively. (2) Virtual-Learning Platform: Aligned to the principles of well-established educational theories and instructional design techniques, a prototype VR platform will be developed. The VR-based solution will feature a safe environment in which students will be able to interact with the learning content and undertake various subject-specific tasks. The virtual learning activities will act as a replica of the procedures and techniques that students follow under normal circumstances in the physical classroom (laboratory). (3) Learning Analytics: In order to assess the usability of the system as well as the effectiveness of the VR tool against the learning objectives, a thorough evaluation will be made. The collected data, be it self-reported or digital traces from the VR environment, will be utilised to analyse learners’ actions and interactions the results of which will be available to the wider audience via a Learning Analytics dashboard.
The primary goals of this project were to develop a cutting-edge framework for blended learning activities that could be adapted to the challenges presented by the pandemic. The framework would allow educators to integrate in-person and remote learning experiences, offering both flexibility and accessibility to students from all walks of life. Additionally, the project aimed to provide educators and learners with access to an innovative Virtual Reality Laboratory that would eliminate the need for physical presence in traditional Robotics Laboratories. This VR Lab would enable students to experience hands-on learning in a safe, simulated environment, while allowing teachers to deliver high-quality instruction regardless of physical location. Finally, the project aimed to integrate this new technology into the curriculum of different STEM courses in various universities, thereby democratizing access to cutting-edge educational resources and empowering students to learn and grow in exciting new ways. We wanted to achieve support for the process of teaching topics related to robotics, which process can be at least partially transferred to the virtual environment, which reduces the number of students staying in laboratory rooms.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies and universities have moved their educational activities into the digital space. The project began during a transition period when limited access to workplaces was allowed. The shift to widespread online education revealed limitations in the context of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as: difficulty in conducting workshops and lack of effectiveness of online assessments. Moreover, although distance learning is modern, adequate and convenient, it cannot replace the social interaction with colleagues and teachers in the classroom. Therefore, the needs can be summarized as follows: - Need for expanded access to university laboratories, - Need for proper assessment of student preparation despite difficult, if not non-existent, direct interaction with students, - The need to support the social interaction of students with colleagues and teachers during the laboratory visit. Therefore, the main motivation for the implementation of this project was to support the teaching process by creating the foundations related to the use of virtual reality (VR) in Blended Learning environments, with particular emphasis on the area of STEM education.