Realising the Potentials of Virtual Reality and Building Information Models? Civil Engineering Students’ Utilisation of Technology in a Group Project

Abstract

Collaboration between different actors is key to successful projects within the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Virtual Reality (VR) combined with Building Information Models (BIM) is an effective visualisation tool that may aid a team’s communication and collaboration. Civil engineering students at Oslo Metropolitan University are encouraged to use such tools, available to them in a dedicated digital collaboration room dubbed the ‘Little Big Room’ (LBR) along with computers and large touchscreens. This paper explores how the tools in the LBR are utilised by three student groups working on a project and how the students view them, discussed through the theoretical lens of the technology acceptance model. The aim is to suggest how students’ utilisation of the technology can be facilitated to improve their learning experiences in collaborative projects. The students were satisfied with using the LBR. However, the full potential of VR was not utilised, such as the option to evaluate the size of the rooms and lighting conditions, something they only realised in hindsight, as not all students perceived VR as sufficiently useful for the tasks given. Changing the criteria of the task or increased focus on the students’ first introduction to VR might facilitate increased utilisation of VR as a professional tool.