The Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft (VBG) is a German statutory accident insurance institution. It is responsible for insuring employees in administrations and other service companies. In addition to occupational safety, the VBG presents itself as a competent partner for sustainable learning and training environments.
The VBG teamed up with IIIX to draw attention to the potential benefits and challenges of VR technologies in the education sector. To this end, the VBG film team conducted an expert interview with the spokesperson of the IIIX, Prof. Dr. Matthias Wölfel, and visited the "VR Campus", which serves as an example of what studying could look like in the future.
A lecture in immersive virtual reality is already being held on the VR Campus, which was developed at IIIX. Students and lecturers can gather on the virtual campus not only to discuss 2D lecture content such as lecture slides, but also to work together on 3D objects - from different locations using VR glasses.
More about the VR Campus
In addition to current challenges, Prof. Dr. Matthias Wölfel tells VBG about the many opportunities that immersive VR environments offer for teaching and learning. "The VR Campus is a new way of learning in a shared space and experiencing things that are not possible in a real physical environment (...) even though you are not on site," says Wölfel in the video. In immersive virtual reality, for example, it is possible to experience proportions realistically or make places and objects accessible that cannot be reached in the real world. Wölfel also mentions the social component of immersive virtual reality, the experience of being present in a room with other people, as a positive aspect. "During the coronavirus period, we noticed that many students no longer have any contact with other students, and the opportunities we create here in the digital space compensate for this somewhat."
The VBG film, which is now available on the VBG YouTube channel, shows the VR Campus as an example project for the use of VR in university teaching.
In addition to IIIX employees, students also took part in the filming. In the spirit of sustainable teaching and learning, the film was shot at various locations - at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, at students' homes and also in virtual reality.
The cooperation with VBG was a lot of fun for us at the Institute for Intelligent Interaction and Immersive Experience and we would like to thank them for the successful collaboration!