Investigating using virtual reality to teach mining sampling in tertiary education

Outline

Mining engineering concepts and processes in tertiary education are traditionally taught via PowerPoint presentations, class discussions, and onsite mining facility field trips. Whilst learning and experiencing mining processes onsite is the gold standard for learning in this context, it requires additional transportation, safety and financial resources. Sampling in mining is a fundamental process that involves several methods of material sample collection to be used for testing, analysis and quality control. It is critical that the collection of these samples is of the upmost accuracy to ensure they are representative of the entirety of the material being mined. This project seeks to utilise virtual reality (VR) to simulate the process of sampling in a mining context as an interactive alternative to onsite mine field trips, so that tertiary students can actively experience what is involved in collecting mining samples. It would also allow more interaction than physically possible during mine onsite field trips (eg. operating dangerous mining machinery). The project would develop VR software for tertiary mining students to use, and gather feedback from the students via questionnaires as a pilot study into the VR experience’s effectiveness for teaching the mining sampling processes.

Supervisory team

Principle supervisor: Dr Larissa Koroznikova – will provide mining sampling experience, as well as tertiary teaching advice, along with project supervision

Co supervisors:

Dr Manoj Khandelwal – will provide additional mining tertiary education experience

Sara Warren – will provide BOLD teaching experience and quality advice

Evan Dekker – will provide technical support and advice