Development of augmented and virtual reality environments for use in engineering graphics education at CSU Chico

There has been increased attention by researchers and educators in science, technology, engineering, and math education (STEM) to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers. These future technical professionals will be tasked with the responsibility to advance our global society, and must be able to adapt to our ever increasing level of technological sophistication. In order to develop the skills necessary for these students to thrive in a technologically diverse industry, incorporation of computer technology has shown promise in the development of the less discussed engineering related “soft skills.” Traditionally, these engineering soft skills were defined to encompass areas that concern skillsets pertaining to presentation skills, report writing, teamwork, and working in teams. Early on, in undergraduate engineering education, engineering graphics courses are tasked with infusing introductory engineering curriculum with activities that enhance these engineering students’ soft skills. Topics in engineering graphics include a range of concepts which may incorporate project management, the preparation of professional presentations, and the effective use of hand sketching and the use of computer aided drafting (CAD) software packages. For students to master CAD software platforms they must be able to visualize the intended object and relate this object’s technical information to a virtual computer generated file. Over time, researchers have come to understand the importance of a student’s ability to mentally visualize and alter an object in their mind. As a result, researchers have included the development of these spatial skills into their list of essentials concerning engineering soft skills education. These spatial and visualization skills remain to be a vital skillset for numerous disciplines outside of engineering and in previous research, among other things, have been linked to a student’s ability to master CAD platforms. The results of these studies led the way to additional research and the concept of the implementation of spatial training in higher education to develop a student’s spatial skills. Initially the spatial training regimen that students followed entailed several types of problems that would comprise of object rotations, revolves, planes of symmetry, and so on. These problems were presented using traditional two-dimensional media via textbooks or worksheets from their instructors. Recent advancements in technology are now allowing educators the ability to manipulate lessons like these and present them in a virtual, three-dimensional environment through the use of augmented and virtual reality technologies. It is the added three-dimensional element of spatial skills development that has sparked the interest of researchers and educators alike to be used as a teaching tool to enhance the traditional understanding of a student’s learning environment. Previous studies that concern the development and use of augmented reality in engineering graphics education have been conducted and deemed significant but the educational environment has not been able to keep up. In addition, there is little information on the development and use of virtual reality learning environments in engineering graphics courses due to the complexity involved in the creation of these complex files. This project examined the use of augmented and virtual reality media’s potential role, to enhance a graphical communication course in undergraduate engineering education at CSU Chico. The use of augmented reality is becoming more common in engineering education, with the first textbooks now coming available that use the digital media in conjunction with graphical education instruction. In comparison, the use of a virtual reality learning environment remains elusive at best, due to the complexity and cost associated with the included technology. Based on the current state of the environment and the uncovered information, this Professional Sciences Master’s (PSM) project has two areas of concentration. The first emphases on the development and use of my own augmented and virtual reality files to be used in undergraduate education using SolidWorks® and Augment® augmented reality software. The second milestone is to create an inexpensive virtual reality environment for a diverse student population to be employed in the classroom. This project component required the use of the solid modeling software SolidWorks® to create virtual parts, that needed secondary finishing operations in a software package called MeshLab®, to be imported into the Unity® 3D gaming engine for rendering into virtual reality compatible file types. Following the development of these files, the creation of dynamic virtual environments was created for the students to view and use, to expose them to multiple perspectives not previously available in traditional two-dimensional media. Earlier research has shown that by exposing students to a virtual environment with the ability to manipulate and engage in their work, students experience enhanced retention through hands-on learning while simultaneously increasing student motivation in the presented material. Previous research conducted on virtual reality in education evaluated more expensive, and hard to obtain virtual reality headsets. These headsets are unpractical for student use. With virtual reality becoming mainstream, more compact and economical equivalent platforms are coming out almost weekly. To cater to a diverse student population, the development of an inexpensive Head Mounted Display (HMD) was pursued using cheap, readily available, off the shelf components for student use. In addition to the virtual reality component, the use of the augmented and virtual reality files was pursued to enhance engineering graphics instruction. The incorporation of augmented reality media would assist in teaching as well as aid in developing the spatial skills of required of science, technology, and engineering students. The emphasis of this project paper was to create a methodology for an engineering graphics faculty member to develop these files and environments smoothly, and to distribute these files to their students to aid in their spatial visualization skills development. It has been shown that the use of augmented reality has shown considerable dexterity. Its application as an effective teaching tool has been evaluated outside the college of engineering, to enhance the learning environments of numerous grades and disciplines spanning from engineering to anatomy, and from kindergarten to graduate education.