Teaching Methodology for Virtual Reality Practical Course in Engineering Education

AbstractVirtual reality is widely used in the industry and is becoming more and more affordable for end users. At the same time higher education students want to be well-prepared for their professional life and expect more courses with practical application of theoretical knowledge acquired during their studies. Moreover, they benefit greatly when having the possibility to improve their soft skills.This paper presents the teaching methodology for a practical course in virtual reality for graduate and undergraduate students. The course design focuses on learning about virtual reality by simulating interdisciplinary industrial projects and it aims at developing skills such as methodical approach to practical engineering problems, teamwork, working in interdisciplinary groups and time management. In addition the paper discusses the importance of the course design, task specification and work group composition for a successful realization of the course and refers to some project examples from the past three years