Virtual reality gives students experience being astronauts

By Bryce Johnson •

Students in the HONR 2020M – Packing for Mars course used virtual reality headsets on March 18 and 20 to simulate being in the International Space Station, a space museum and NASA Mission Control. They were also able to watch 360-degree videos.

Amanda Furiasse, professor of the Packing for Mars course and assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Politics, said the course gives students an authentic astronaut experience.

“Students are effectively putting themselves in the role of an astronaut preparing to go to Mars, and undergoing the emotional, psychological, cultural training that they would need to go to Mars, and VR is a part of this,” Furiasse said.

The Learning and Educational Center designed the VR simulations from NASA’s materials.

“When we were in our discussions with Dr. Furiasse, I looked at some of the resources that NASA provides. They provide all kinds of 3D models and images,” said Tim Hoeck, instructional designer with the Learning and Educational Center.

Walter Milner, instructional designer with the Learning and Educational Center, helped set up the VR headsets.

“In modern learning theory, we’re always trying to have what’s called experiential learning, which is to actually experience things rather than just read about them in a textbook,” Milner said.

Sativa James, freshman nursing major, said it helped her see things and not just hear about them, especially by letting her explore the ISS.

“It made me more invested in space. The VR, as a visual, makes you see there’s things out there that people don’t know. I’ve learned a lot,” James said.

Emma Pinard, senior environmental science major, explored the ISS and went through zero gravity.

“These hands-on experiences really bring light to everything we’ve been learning about. You can actually see it in time, which we wouldn’t get to do without VR,” Pinard said.

Montunique Van Staden, junior law major, said using the VR technology in class was helpful and gave her a new way of understanding what she’s learning in class.

“For classes like this where we talk about exploration, it costs a lot of money for the class to take a trip to the moon and stuff like that. Obviously this just gives students the perspectives to be able to look outside the box,” Van Staden said.

Adam Cohen, director of Instructional Design and Media Production with the Learning and Education Center, is open to working with more professors to implement VR technology in their classes.

“This was our first adventure, I like to say, in deploying VR content, not content that’s purchased. It’s customized by the faculty member,” Cohen said. “We have the ability to manipulate it, add our own custom information or logos.”

Lia George, sophomore biology major, hopes to see VR technology applied to a biology course.

“Even biology, you could go inside the cell or something like that. It’s a really good way to visualize and learn in a different way other than just memorizing. You can actually remember being there,” George said.