Integrating Virtual Reality (VR) into traditional instructional design

Abstract

Most technical programs in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions lack the desired laboratories to impact technical skills to the students. This has led to the production of pseudo-illustrates as graduates and this accounts for reasons why many employers are saying Nigerian graduates are not employable. Virtual Reality (VR) can bridge this gap as it is now the case even in advanced countries of the world where military and pilot training has deployed the technology for successful technical manpower development. VR can be defined as the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors Wikipedia has described it as immersive multimedia for computer-simulated media. VR is used to describe a wide variety of applications commonly associated with immersive, highly visual, 3D environments. Such high resolution multimedia technology can be used to replace physical laboratories for the training of engineers, medical doctors and other technologists where the requisite laboratories are inadequate or non-existent. This paper has x-rayed the properties of this technology and presented how to integrat VR with traditional instructional technology.

Key words: Laboratories, Virtual reality, Instructional design, Immersive systems, Instructional development