POSTECH created an innovative classroom combining virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), and showcased a virtual lecture using this new advanced technology.
POSTECH started VR classes in April to maintain educational quality and encourage creative, self-directed learning since all classes moved online due to the spread of COVID-19. For this purpose, POSTECH built a 106-seat classroom equipped with VR·AR·MR devices in the LG Cooperative Electronics Engineering Building on campus. Furthermore, POSTECH provided VR devices (Oculus Quest 2) and experimental kits to all freshmen for their experiment classes. Although some universities in Korea have used VR devices for lectures, POSTECH is the first to apply the technology on courses with credit to all freshmen. In addition to physics experiments, VR classes will gradually expand to chemistry and other curriculums.
To conduct VR classes, POSTECH focused on creating videos that can be experienced as if one were participating in actual experiments. It filmed real experimental scenes with a high-resolution 360-degree camera and applied various technologies to the editing process so that experimental instruments such as a microscope could be viewed from various angles as if it was sitting in a classroom.
After a semester of lectures, the evaluation of VR classes was mainly favorable. Even though it was a non-face-to-face lecture, students could be immersed because they could see the experimental scene vividly, as if they were watching it in front of their eyes, and virtually visit dangerous and difficult facilities such as nuclear reactors.
Professor Gunsu Yun of the Department of Physics, who incorporated the VR-based experiment component to his courses, commented, “If virtual lab classes become more sophisticated, it can lead to a new educational paradigm in the post-COVID-19 era.” Yun added, “Through VR, AR, and MR-based classes, students can continue their studies anywhere in the world, beyond the boundaries of a physical campus.”
Professor Wooksung Kim, who leads the VR·AR·MR project, remarked, “We can experience various contents such as those set in dangerous or inaccessible places without being limited by time or space.” Kim continued, “This technological innovation enables us to create value not just in education but in other sectors.”
POSTECH signed a Smart Tourism Platform MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Gyeongsangbuk-do Culture and Tourism Organization. Starting with this government-university partnership, POSTECH plans to pursue mutual growth in the region based on VR·AR·MR technologies in education, tourism, and other industrial sectors.