Minneapolis, MN
August 23, 2022
June 26, 2022
June 29, 2022
Civil Engineering Division - Is This Real? Reaching Students with Virtual and Augmented Reality
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10.18260/1-2--41431
https://peer.asee.org/41431
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Dr Mojgan Jadidi is an assistant professor at Lassonde school of Engineering, Geomatics engineering program who embraces the power of location turn to knowledge discovery for better and informed decision making in the context of developing digital twins of smart buildings, infrastructures, and cities. Dr Jadidi’s research interest includes Geospatial Visual Analytics in 2D and 3D spaces, Building Information Model (BIM) and 3D GIS Integration for applications of Smart Environmental/Building/Cities and Intelligent Transportation. As founder of GeoVA Lab, she passionately drives the research in engineering education using virtual and augmented reality and gamification technologies and learning analytics intersecting with UN Sustainable Development Goals leading XR Sandbox project. See More: https://lassonde.yorku.ca/users/mjadidi
Mr Damith Tennakoon is an undergraduate research assistant for the XR Sandbox Development project at GeoVA Lab under supervisor Dr. Mojgan Jadidi. He has a passion to devise, develop and apply high-tech in engineering education. In a world that is constantly evolving, he believes that through the application of physics and engineering, we can steer the spear of innovation towards sustainability and technological advancements. Damith is a driven and hands-on learner, working towards his Space Engineering degree at Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Canada, constantly learning new skills in programming, hardware, and applied physics. Learning from his past experiences of taking on the role as a research assistant, working on side-projects, and being an engaged student, he focuses on continually honing his skills and knowledge to move the needle forward in the field of engineering and physics.
Dr. Muhammad Usman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information and Computer Science at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He has earned his Ph.D. and MS.c. from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at York University in Toronto, Canada. His research interests include agent-based modeling, human-building interaction, human-centered artificial intelligence, computer-aided architectural design, optimization and analysis, and virtual reality.
Apostolos is a graduate (M.A.Sc.) student in the department of Civil Engineering at Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Toronto, Canada. Apostolos’s research work focuses on using data-driven modelling and machine learning methods to study the influence of climatic variables in the stability of rock-cut tombs of the Theban Necropolis in Luxor, Egypt.
Sasha Latchaev is a 4th Year Civil Engineering Student studying at the Lassonde School of Engineering with York University. He has a passion for road, water, and geotechnical mechanics and is looking to pursue graduate studies to enrich future education and civil frameworks.
Melanie Baljko is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at York University, a member of the graduate programs in Critical Disability Studies, Science and Technology Studies, and Digital Media. She is an Affiliate Scientist at the University Health Network-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. Her program of research is focused on the improved design of human-centered technologies through the use of critical technical practice. Her research projects have been funded by a variety of bodies, including NSERC and SSHRC.
Dr Usman T Khan is an Associate Professor in Civil Engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering, York University. His research interests lie in Water Resources Engineering, focusing on urban hydrology, including flood risk assessment and uncertainty analysis, sustainable water resource management and infrastructure, and the impacts of climate change on these systems.
Usman received his BSc and MSc from the University of Calgary. His undergraduate project focused on designing a net zero water use building on a university campus. For his MSc research, Usman tested the efficacy of bioretention cells, a type of sustainable stormwater management technology. Usman was awarded a PhD from the University of Victoria; his research contributions included designing new big-data based techniques to improve water quality and quantity analysis in urban areas.
He has won a number of national awards for his research and teaching, including NSERC awards for his MSc, PhD and postdoctoral work, and recently an Andy Farquharson Teaching Excellence Award. In addition to this, Usman has worked with municipal governments, providing his expertise to a number of stormwater, watershed management and urban hydrology projects.
The role of Civil Engineering in creating vibrant, liveable and sustainable cities is a strong motivator for Usman. He is committed to using his professional practice to meet the challenges that face the urban environment.
Dr Matthew Perras is an Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering, York University in Toronto, Ontario. His research interests lie in Geotechnical and Geological Engineering with a focus on near excavation surface or Earth’s surface crack growth in brittle rocks, the influence of environmental factors on fracture mechanics processes, and time-dependent brittle rock behaviour.
In the methods of traditional education, students have had to learn complex concepts within the subjects of earth-science and engineering beginning with paper-based topographic maps, a pencil and a ruler. Elaborative observations, such as understanding of the landscape elevations using a contour map, had to be performed by reading accurate contour intervals for heights on a given map. Such paper-based concepts delivered by instructors are perplexing and hard for students to grasp, despite that they play a fundamental role towards earth-science and engineering education. However, using advanced technology and enhanced visualization techniques, instructors can deliver such complicated concepts in a more step-by-step interactive fashion, which is more straight forward and easier to understand by the students. Our team is working on changing this traditional norm of education into a more visual-based experiential learning process. By using depth sensors and a physical sandbox structure, we have developed a mechanism to capture self-created landscapes in a sandbox environment and recreate respective Digital Terrain Model (DTM). The Augmented Reality (AR) Sandbox by UC Davis is a 3D visualization application where individuals can simply mould the sand into mountains and valleys, and a real-time topographic map is projected onto the sand to bring the landscape to life. However, this technology has its own shortcomings in terms of requiring physical access to the AR Sandbox itself, and furthermore absence of performing complex geological, hydrological, and geotechnical applications on top of existing software. We are extending this immersive technology by developing a virtual sandbox (called XR Sandbox) linked with the AR Sandbox. The extended process extracts a 3D point cloud of the self-designed terrain (landscape) in the AR Sandbox and converts this point cloud into a colour-mapped point cloud based on spectral elevation. Furthermore, using a 3D modelling framework in the Python environment, the colour-mapped point cloud is converted into a DTM (a 3D mesh file). To furnish the application of our extensive work, we have developed a prototype virtual sandbox, a web-based application, that imports these DTM’s for further digital analysis. The virtual sandbox application is an interactive computer program developed using the Unity 3D game engine, geared towards teaching complex earth-science concepts. The current prototype allows generation of automatic contour maps, overlayed on the terrain model and it is integrated into a learning exercise for students in Civil Engineering to understand the orientation of a planar structure using the 3-Point Problem approach. This exercise has been traditionally delivered using pen and paper, aided with physical 3D models and now it is possible to visualize the problem with a few clicks. The latest release of the Virtual Sandbox application was implemented into a 2000-level Geological process course in the Civil Engineering Program where students were tasked with performing an assessment to demonstrate their 3-dimensional visualization ability. A Google Forms survey, aimed towards learning about the individual user experiences using the Virtual Sandbox application, was distributed the students that took part in this lab activity. Our project also intended towards Virtual Reality (VR) development, therefore, provisioning towards a complete Mixed Reality (XR) experience in Earth system engineering education. The future of such a platform enables enhanced learning experiences for students and innovative solutions for instructors. Here users can import various self-created 3D terrain models, visualize, explore landscapes using first-person perspective, seek extensive new features, and potentials beyond traditional education.
Jadidi, M., & Tennakoon, D., & Usmani, A. U., & Usman, M., & Vasileiou, A., & Latchaev, S., & Baljko, M., & Khan, U., & Perras, M. (2022, August), TEACHING EARTH SYSTEMS BEYOND THE CLASSROOM: DEVELOPING A MIXED REALITY (XR) SANDBOX Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41431
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