Immersive Virtual Realty Environments @ UniSA
Welcome to IVR @ UniSA
Discover how UniSA uses IVR to prepare you for your future career here >
The University of South Australia takes the job of preparing our future graduates for their career seriously and is exploring the use of virtual reality techniques to provide realistic environments for students to confront workplace situations in a safe and controlled way prior to meeting them in real life. These environments are tightly linked to the learning outcomes of the courses that are being studied. They provide students with a self-navigable experience where they can safely practice making professional decisions in environments that closely replicate the taxing situations that professionals face on a daily basis.
Virtual reality can take many forms. Simple augmented reality (AR), where additional labels photographs and information are added to a realistic 2D or 3D environment, provide rich situated learning experiences that are realistic preparation for professional practice. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) focuses on the use of 3D technology and sound to get the sense of being there, allowing students to deal with internal (e.g. emotion) and external forces while continuing to make professional decisions in the situated environment. Haptic IVR allows students hands to perform tasks through gestures within a simulated environment. Social IVR allows individuals from many locations to interact physically within 3D environments.
This site contains some examples of publicly available immersive virtual reality environments to demonstrate some of the functionality available. Another new site by Tom is available.