Virtual reality training integrated curriculum: an aircraft maintenance technology (AMT) education perspective

Abstract

This paper presents results from a 3-year National Science Foundation: Advanced Technology Education (NSF: ATE) funded initiative to enhance curriculum and student learning via integration of Virtual Reality (VR) technology-based simulators. An Aircraft Maintenance Technology (AMT) curriculum is the backbone of training and educating maintenance technicians for the aviation industry to function in safe operating conditions. As a part of this research effort, the ViSIns Laboratory (Virtual Simulated Inspection Laboratory) was established at Greenville Technical College, South Carolina, USA; to reduce the gap between high-end technology requirement in the hangar (work environment) and the classroom. Using Bloom's Taxonomy in the cognitive domain, learning objectives of six course modules were refined to create more meaningful student outcomes and mapped to reflect expected student proficiency and goals. The pedagogical material development was extended to integrate two Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) simulators (borescope and eddy current) in classroom activities and learning as interactive 3D knowledge objects. We present results on student learning using the VR augmentation on different sub-domains of cognition. Our results indicate that VR simulators are effective 3D learning objects which can be used for enhancing deliverables of the AMT education. This study further contributes to engineering education, aircraft maintenance technology education improvement and the use of VR-based simulators in technology driven training environments.