How Academics and the Public Experienced Immersive Virtual Reality for Geo-Education
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https://hdl.handle.net/10037/24482Date
2021-12-24Type
Journal articleTidsskriftartikkel
Peer reviewed
Author
Bonali, Fabio L.; Russo, Elena; Vitello, Fabio; Antoniou, Varvara; Marchese, Fabio; Fallati, Luca; Bracchi, Valentina; Corti, Noemi; Savini, Alessandra; Whitworth, Malcom; Drymoni, Kyriaki; Mariotto, Federico Pasquaré; Nomikou, Paraskevi V.; Sciacca, Eva; Bressan, Sofia; Falsaperla, Susanna; Reitano, Danilo; van Wyk de Vries, Benjamin; Krokos, Mel; Panieri, Giuliana; Stiller-Reeve, Matthew Alexander; Vizzari, Giuseppe; Becciani, Ugo; Tibaldi, AlessandroAbstract
Immersive virtual reality can potentially open up interesting geological sites to students,
academics and others who may not have had the opportunity to visit such sites previously. We study
how users perceive the usefulness of an immersive virtual reality approach applied to Earth Sciences
teaching and communication. During nine immersive virtual reality-based events held in 2018 and
2019 in various locations (Vienna in Austria, Milan and Catania in Italy, Santorini in Greece), a large
number of visitors had the opportunity to navigate, in immersive mode, across geological landscapes
reconstructed by cutting-edge, unmanned aerial system-based photogrammetry techniques. The
reconstructed virtual geological environments are specifically chosen virtual geosites, from Santorini
(Greece), the North Volcanic Zone (Iceland), and Mt. Etna (Italy). Following the user experiences, we
collected 459 questionnaires, with a large spread in participant age and cultural background. We find
that the majority of respondents would be willing to repeat the immersive virtual reality experience,
and importantly, most of the students and Earth Science academics who took part in the navigation
confirmed the usefulness of this approach for geo-education purposes.
Publisher
MDPICitation
Bonali, Russo, Vitello, Antoniou, Marchese, Fallati, Bracchi, Corti, Savini A, Whitworth, Drymoni, Mariotto, Nomikou, Sciacca, Bressan, Falsaperla, Reitano, van Wyk de Vries B, Krokos, Panieri G, Stiller-Reeve, Vizzari, Becciani, Tibaldi. How Academics and the Public Experienced Immersive Virtual Reality for Geo-Education. Geosciences. 2022;12(1)Metadata
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