The CLICK Approach and its Impact on Learning Introductory Probability Concepts in an Industrial Engineering Course

The objective of this work is to present an initial investigation of the impact the Connected Learning and Integrated Course Knowledge (CLICK) approach has had on students’ motivation, engineering identity, and learning outcomes. CLICK is an approach that leverages Virtual Reality (VR) technology to provide an integrative learning experience in the Industrial Engineering (IE) curriculum. To achieve this integration, the approach aims to leverage VR learning modules to simulate a variety of systems. The VR learning modules offer an immersive experience and provide the context for real-life applications. The virtual simulated system represents a theme to transfer the system concepts and knowledge across multiple IE courses as well as connect the experience with real-world applications. The CLICK approach has the combined effect of immersion and learning-by-doing benefits. In this work, VR learning modules are developed for a simulated manufacturing system. The modules teach the concepts of measures of location and dispersion, which are used in an introductory probability course within the IE curriculum. This work presents the initial results of comparing the motivation, engineering identity, and knowledge gain between a control and an intervention group (i.e., traditional vs. CLICK teaching groups). The CLICK approach group showed greater motivation compared to a traditional teaching group. However, there were no effects on engineering identity and knowledge gain. Nevertheless, it is hypothesized that the VR learning modules will have a positive impact on the students’ motivation, engineering identity, and knowledge gain over the long run and when used across the curriculum. Moreover, IE instructors interested in providing an immersive and integrative learning experience to their students could leverage the VR learning modules developed for this project. The results from the (RIMMS) show that participants in the intervention group reported greater motivation after interacting with the VR modules (M=47.40 , SD= 5.47 ) than participants in the control group after using traditional learning materials (M=44.41, SD= 8.16). However, the results of the Wilcoxon test do not indicate that this difference was statistically significant at an alpha level of 0.05. When looking at the elements of the RIMMS, the results show that participants in the intervention group reported greater Attention, Confidence, and Satisfaction than the control group. The results of the Wilcoxon test indicate that the reported RIMMS Confidence (p-value=0.04) and Satisfaction (p-value=0.0007) elements were statistically significantly different between the groups. The RIMMS results indicate that the VR learning modules were perceived as more motivational than the traditional learning materials. This despite the fact that several of the participants encountered difficulties interacting with the VR headset even after the initial training. Moreover, participants’ low response to the element of Relevance could be potentially attributed to the fact that the VR learning modules only covered three basic statistics concepts (i.e., mean, median, and mode submodules). In addition, the VR learning modules suffered from some bugs that made it difficult to finish the activities at times.