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Board 92: Using Mixed Reality and the Three Apprenticeships Framework to Design Head-, Hand- and Heart-focused Learning Experiences for Civil Engineering Students

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Conference

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Tampa, Florida

Publication Date

June 15, 2019

Start Date

June 15, 2019

End Date

June 19, 2019

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

6

DOI

10.18260/1-2--32462

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/32462

Download Count

378

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Paper Authors

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Jeremi S. London Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State university

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Dr. Jeremi London is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Education Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. London is a mixed methods researcher with interests in research impact, cyberlearning, and instructional change in STEM Education. Prior to being a faculty member, London worked at the National Science Foundation, GE Healthcare, and Anheuser-Busch. She earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University.

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Steven K. Ayer Arizona State University

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Steven Ayer runs the Emerging Technologies Building Information Modeling Lab at Arizona State University. His research group explores new and emerging electronic technologies, including augmented reality, virtual reality, and other emerging tools. Ayer’s group aims to study how these tools may improve the way that building projects are delivered. This research group has an array of different projects and technologies that it explores, but all studies revolve around the single motivation that technology should empower human users. Therefore, most of the studies conducted by Ayer’s team aim to focus on human performance rather than technological innovation. His team has explored the use of technology for: students gaining “cyberlearning” experiences related to construction management and engineering; architects aiming to improve the quality of their design concepts; construction managers interested in improving field communication of BIM content; and facility managers interested in better leveraging model information to deliver more maintainable built spaces. Ayer’s work has been funded by federal and industrial sources, which has enabled his team to collect data that offers both scientific and practical contributions. Up to date information about Dr. Ayer and his team can be found at www.ETBIMLab.com.

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Wei Wu California State University, Fresno Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-7024-3812

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Wei Wu, PhD, LEED AP, GGP, CM-BIM, A.M. ASCE, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Construction Management in Lyles College of Engineering at California State University, Fresno. He received his Bachelor of Engineering in Built Environment and Equipment Engineering from Hunan University in China in 2004, Master of Science in Environmental Change and Management from University of Oxford in the UK in 2005, and Doctor of Philosophy in Design, Construction and Planning from University of Florida in 2010. Currently, Dr. Wu teaches courses in Construction Graphics, Design Build, BIM for Construction. Dr. Wu’s research interests include building information modeling, construction graphics and visualization, green building and sustainable construction, workforce development, cyberlearning and educational technology, construction and engineering education. Dr. Wu has published more than 40 articles and conference proceedings in these areas. Dr. Wu’s research has been funded by regional and federal agencies including a recent National Science Foundation (NSF) grant on investigating Mixed Reality (MR) for career-specific competency cultivation among construction management and engineering students.

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Christina K. Lam Arizona State University

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Christina K. Lam is a Ph.D. student in Counseling Psychology at Arizona State University. She has previously earned her B.S. in Psychology and M.A. in Counseling Psychology. Her previous research has examined Asian American ethnic identity formation, racial/ethnic and gender differences in financial stress, and the integration of a three apprenticeships framework in engineering. Her current research emphasizes a health belief approach to examine the likelihood of mental health help-seeking behaviors among Asian Americans.

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Abstract

The building industry has a major impact on the US economy and accounts for: $1 trillion in annual spending; 40% of the nation’s primary energy use; and 9 million jobs. Despite its massive impact, the industry has been criticized for poor productivity compared with other industries and billions of dollars in annual waste because of poor interoperability. Furthermore, the industry has been approaching a “labor cliff”: there are not enough new individuals entering the industry to offset the vacancies left by an aging, retiring workforce. To remain effective, this critical industry will need to do better with less. In order to prepare civil engineering students for careers in this industry, educators have aimed to replicate the processes associated with real-world projects through design/build educational activities like the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar Decathlon, Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD) Tiny House Competition, and DOE’s Challenge Home Competition. These learning experiences help situate civil engineering concepts in an authentic learning environment. Unfortunately, not all universities have the financial resources necessary to fund this type of hands-on project. Technology has the potential to mitigate some of these inequities. Thus, the multi-faceted objective of this project is to: develop mixed reality (MR) technology aimed at sufficiently replicating physical design and construction learning environments to enable access to students at institutions without sufficient resources; and assess the impact of a MR-facilitated cyberlearning environment on promoting cognitive-, affective-, and skill-based learning that occurs during traditional (in-persona) design and construction activities. This research will explore a fundamental question: Can MR technology enable educators to simulate physical design and construction activities at low costs to enable students at all institutions to gain exposure to these types of hands-on learning environments? In order to address this question, we employ an iterative development approach according to Human Centered Design principles to support learning according to the Carnegie Foundation’s Three Apprenticeships Model (i.e., learning related to “Head”, “Hand”, and “Heart”). In order to achieve these aims, the research team uses MR technology (i.e., a Microsoft HoloLens®) to understand the extent to which this mode of education allows students to demonstrate knowledge similar to that which is gained through physical design and construction learning environments. This paper will presents highlights from the first year of this project.

London, J. S., & Ayer, S. K., & Wu, W., & Lam , C. K. (2019, June), Board 92: Using Mixed Reality and the Three Apprenticeships Framework to Design Head-, Hand- and Heart-focused Learning Experiences for Civil Engineering Students Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32462

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