The project “Implementing Digital Competency-based Testing – ii.oo” really “stepped on the gas” again at the end of the year. In mid-December, the online event “VR Showroom” took place with a total of 64 participants from all over Germany and Switzerland. The event was organized by Hof University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with the Augsburg and Würzburg-Schweinfurt universities. In addition, the end of the year was celebrated internally at the university with a hybrid event and insights into the current project status.
VR Showroom presents VR-based innovations
Thanks to the funding of the project extension of the Bavarian collaborative project ii.oo by the Foundation Innovation in University Teaching, the project focus could be extended to include content and new technologies around the topics of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR).
After a short welcome by Vice President Teaching Prof. Dr. Dietmar Wolff, the VR Showroom kicked off virtual reality-based innovations in the context of exams. The event was organized and moderated by project collaborators Silvia Knieling and Olga Gribanova. Participants gained exciting insights into current technologies that offer new possibilities for teaching and learning and make it possible to rethink the examination framework. Thus, thanks to the speakers Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heribert Nacken (RWTH University Aachen), Prof. Dr. René Peinl (Hof University of Applied Sciences) and Christian Galgenmüller (Würzburg-Schweinfurt University of Applied Sciences), they were able to immerse themselves in the fascinating world of VR and gain insight into already implemented projects from various contexts.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Nacken went together with the attendees into the avatar-based virtual learning world MyScore. By means of different usage scenarios, the possibilities and limits of VR were illustrated. The interaction between virtual training and practical application in reality was also addressed and discussed in detail, along with prospects for enhancements through the integration of simulation and AI solutions. Prof. Dr. Peinl presented the VR e-learning application “Working under voltage – immersive learning for electrical engineers”, which was developed specifically for training at the vocational school center in Kronach. It offers new possibilities in vocational training so that work steps can be learned in real, sometimes even dangerous situations in a safe virtual environment. Finally, Christian Galgenmüller clarified the various areas of application of VR in theory and practice and gave insights into how VR can also enrich social work, for example.
The participants thus got a very vivid impression of the new possibilities for teaching, learning and testing offered by VR and AR – especially when situations are dangerous, expensive or difficult to represent by the setting. But also the limits and not useful applications were discussed by the participants. Interested parties who would like to participate in the development of VR in the context of examinations can register for further collaboration under project ii.oo – network fellow VR . The project team ii.oo is looking forward to more contributors in the team!
End of the year with results and future workshop
In a pre-Christmas atmosphere, the hybrid end-of-year event of the project ii.oo with a total of 11 participants from different areas of the university took place at the Digital Learning Lab of Hof University of Applied Sciences on December 19, 2022. The project members Silvia Knieling and Olga Gribanova gave insights into the project “Digitales kompetenzorientiertes Prüfen implementieren-ii.oo” including project goals, tasks and contents as well as the current project status. Likewise, the results from the internal university interviews from the 2022 summer semester were presented, compared with the goals of the project and then worked together on how the results can be sustainably anchored at Hof University of Applied Sciences
By applying the Walt Disney method, the participants entered into a creative future workshop and developed new ideas that can now be pursued in the course of the project.