Date of Defense
11-11-2024 1:00 PM
Location
e1-1040
Document Type
Thesis Defense
Degree Name
Master of Science in Software Engineering
College
CIT
Department
Computer Science
First Advisor
Dr. Mamoun Awad
Keywords
user experience and how to improve the VR environment to match the user expectations. Keywords:
Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) is becoming increasingly popular in different fields, as institutions strive to incorporate technology into the education process. This thesis explores the effect of the use of VR on the users learning experience, and whether gamification, and human-computer interaction (HCI) affect the VR experience in a positive way. The main goal of this thesis is to explore the VR environment in STEM courses/Labs and investigate its effect on learning advanced topics. Specifically, we developed Digital Design & Computer Organization Lab (CS/CE Laboratory) as a VR environment to research this topic. We set and conducted experiments, surveyed participating students from UAEU, and finally, we present the final outcomes and results. The Digital Design & Computer Organization Lab virtual reality environment will implement a simulation of the lab environment by allowing the students to use lab equipment to achieve lab tasks. The system allows the students to experience learning through a gamified environment in a competitive immersive way. The study employs two types of experiments; the first is a usability test experiment to measure the user's overall experience with the VR environment, and the second is an educational experiment to compare the VR users' results to students who only rely on documents. In our experiments, we concluded that VR environment contribute positively on educating CS/CE/IT students on advanced topics in CENG205. Specifically, 90.9% of the participants found that the VR gamification experience was fun and encouraged competitive behavior. The second experiment proved that the group that used the VR application achieved better understanding of the materials and scored better than other students. We developed a fully functional VR application prototype that simulates the Digital Design & Computer Organization Lab class to confirm/verify that students who use VR are more likely to better understand the materials and achieve higher results. The experiment results obtained give us a better understanding of how VR can affect the user experience and how to improve the VR environment to match the user expectations.
Included in
EFFECT OF VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNOLOGY ON CE/CS BASED LABORATORIES EDUCATION – A
e1-1040
Virtual reality (VR) is becoming increasingly popular in different fields, as institutions strive to incorporate technology into the education process. This thesis explores the effect of the use of VR on the users learning experience, and whether gamification, and human-computer interaction (HCI) affect the VR experience in a positive way. The main goal of this thesis is to explore the VR environment in STEM courses/Labs and investigate its effect on learning advanced topics. Specifically, we developed Digital Design & Computer Organization Lab (CS/CE Laboratory) as a VR environment to research this topic. We set and conducted experiments, surveyed participating students from UAEU, and finally, we present the final outcomes and results. The Digital Design & Computer Organization Lab virtual reality environment will implement a simulation of the lab environment by allowing the students to use lab equipment to achieve lab tasks. The system allows the students to experience learning through a gamified environment in a competitive immersive way. The study employs two types of experiments; the first is a usability test experiment to measure the user's overall experience with the VR environment, and the second is an educational experiment to compare the VR users' results to students who only rely on documents. In our experiments, we concluded that VR environment contribute positively on educating CS/CE/IT students on advanced topics in CENG205. Specifically, 90.9% of the participants found that the VR gamification experience was fun and encouraged competitive behavior. The second experiment proved that the group that used the VR application achieved better understanding of the materials and scored better than other students. We developed a fully functional VR application prototype that simulates the Digital Design & Computer Organization Lab class to confirm/verify that students who use VR are more likely to better understand the materials and achieve higher results. The experiment results obtained give us a better understanding of how VR can affect the user experience and how to improve the VR environment to match the user expectations.