Preliminary experiment about the evaluation of fixed-quantity
classes that utilized VR-HMD-Case study of VR Mines○Aliff Firdaus 1*・Yutaka Ito 2**・Yohei Kawamura 3**・Masato Takeuchi 4*

1. Introduction
Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2012suggested that in a bachelor’s degree curriculum, the switch to active learning is necessary.
However, when it comes to mining education in the country, problems like the lack of existing
mines that allows hands-on field trips, lack of access to such mines, and the necessity to obtain
permission to enter one makes the implementation of active learning into the syllabus
considerably difficult. People now are coming up with ways to solve this problem by using thefeatures in VR as one of the methods to assist the whole process of active learning. Even withthat said, it is still unclear whether the practical use of VR can actually help with the student’s
improvement in comprehension and increase in willingness to learn. Therefore, in this study
with the conduct of an experiment, we aim to quantitatively analyse the students’ level ofcomprehension for lectures that utilizes VR mining contents to provide more insights for future
lectures that desires to implement VR into their teaching method.
2. Method
2.1 Framework of experiment
In this study, the effectiveness of teaching conducted in lectures that uses the Virtual
Reality-Head Mounted Device (VR-HMD) were verified using the Randomized Controlled
Trial (RCT) method. RCT is one of the methods that aims to avoid biasness and objectively
evaluate a curative effect. In this research, the RCT was applied for the inspection of the VRHMD’s effectiveness in teaching. The subjects of this research were first year students fromthe International Resource Sciences Department of Akita University. For this research, twolectures were conducted respectively to the students’ group. One of the groups used VR-HMD
and the other wasn’t given any VR-HMD gears. At the end, students were given a test to havetheir comprehension of the lecture measured. First, subjects were divided into two groups
randomly to avoid any selection biases. This process is called randomization. Later, a lecture
about mining was conducted.
For this experiment, each group were tasked to their respective duties. After the lecture hasbeen carried out, the subjects then were required to go through a test related to mining
development. After the test is over, the average score from each group were obtained andcompared with each other to see if there’s a statistically significant difference between thegroups. Also, after we had the subjects sit for the tests, we also had them answer a few questions
from a questionnaire to evaluate the differences in the willingness to learn more about mining
by comparing the results of each groups.

*Department of International Resource Sciences, Akita University
1-1 Tegatagakuenmachi, Akita, 010-8502 TEL018-889-2207 FAX018-832-1105**
Graduate school of International Resource Sciences, Akita University
1-1 Tegatagakuenmachi, Akita, 010-8502 TEL018-889-2207 FAX018-832-1105

The audio-visual materials used for this experiment were co-developed by Akita University
and Toppan Co. Ltd, titled “Virtual Mine Training System”. The Virtual Mine Training System
is a system that re-projects mines in Japan using CG (computer graphics). The Virtual Mine
Training System contains two types of videos as shown below.

Figure 1. Underground mining of a gold mine

Figure 2. Underground mining of a coal mine

2.2 Implementation of the lecture and data gathering
The study was conducted in June of 2018 and 2019. A class was performed using VR
mine contents for 51 students. 25 students out of 51 students were formed into a group whichwere tasked with using the VR-HMD and the remaining 26 students were assigned to a groupthat studies using the normal 2D audio-visual material.
3. Results
After careful analysis, there was a significant difference found between the VR groupand the 2D video group. It can be concluded that there was a better understanding towards theclass’ contents when using VR in a class compared to a class that uses a normal 2D video as ateaching material.
4. Conclusion
This study has provided new insights on how VR can be helpful for classes that desires
to utilize them into their teaching method in the future. By analyzing quantitatively thecomprehension of students that partake in a class that uses VR contents of a mine, we are able
to come up with the conclusion that VR does contribute to the improvement of a student’s
understanding towards a class.
5. References
1. Virtual reality simulator: a world-first for education | School of Mining Engineering.
University of New South Wales
Available at: https://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au/miningengineering/research/research-groups/innovative-learningand-teaching/virtual-realitysimulator-a-world-first. (Accessed: 25th March 2019)
2. Pantelidis, V. S. Virtual Reality in the Classroom. Educ. Technol. 33(1993), 23–27.
3. Mantovani, F. VR L earning: Potential and Challenges for the Use of 3D
Environments in Education and Training . (Towards cyberpsychology: Mind,cognitions and society in the internet age, 2001), pp.207-226