Abstract
• Field trip has been widely adopted for experiential learning. The students understanding on abstract concepts can be enhanced through the experience obtained during the field trip, as they can observe the real world application of the theories. However, the months-long social unrest and the recent coronavirus outbreak has posed a challenge to the practicability of the field trip. For the health and safety concerns of the students, classes have been suspended or shifted to online teaching.
• The course instructors are finding alternative ways to conduct the field trip “online” when the physical trip is not viable. One alternative is to produce the video so that the students can watch and indirectly experience the field trip. However, they may not be actively engaged while watching the video. Another alternative is to produce VR 360° tour of the field trip where the students can have interaction by moving around their electronic devices to observe the buildings in the surrounding.
• This project aims to substitute the physical field trip by developing a virtual tour where the students can have comparable real-world experience. The VR online learning facilitates student engagement and thus student-centered learning can be achieved.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
The project aims to substitute physical field trip by developing a virtual tour where students can have a comparable real-world experience.
Activities, process and outcomes
A one-hour full version of VR360° video tour “A Walk in CBD and Wanchai District” was developed and delivered to CUHK students enrolling at courses HTMG3030A “Hospitality Real Estate Economics”, HTMG3030B “Hospitality Real Estate Economics” and HTMG5021 “Shopping Mall Development and Management”. Extracting from the full version, four short versions were also developed to ease the feeling of tiredness and dizziness.
Deliverables and evaluation
The VR videos were uploaded to YouTube and easily accessible by students. To evaluate students’ learning performance, the pretest and posttest method was adopted. The students’ accuracy in answering posttest questions was increased after viewing VR video. Questionnaire surveys were also developed to examine students’ perceptions of VR learning experience. About 86% of them agreed that they greatly learned from VR video and 70% of them enjoyed viewing it.
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
This project was virtually presented at the CUHK Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo in mid-2020, and in eLearning Forum Asia and European Real Estate Society Education Seminar in end-2020. VR can be a good substitute for physical field trip when the class is conducted online or hybrid as it does not have time and geographic boundaries. With VR, student learning outcomes can still be achieved.
Impact on teaching and learning
Students consider that VR can provide rich experience given the situation where they cannot have physical field trip. Their positive responses encourage me to innovate and develop VRs for other courses.
