Um método para o desenvolvimento de competências para a indústria 4.0 através de tecnologias de realidade virtual

As organizações industriais de maneira geral demandam profissionais cada vez mais capacitados para lidar com a crescente complexidade dos processos e produtos, ao mesmo tempo em que o novo paradigma “Indústria 4.0” sugere a necessidade de competências específicas para atuação neste contexto. Para o desenvolvimento de tais competências, tem aumentado o interesse na adoção de tecnologias de realidade virtual, visto que elas vêm se tornando mais acessíveis e têm o potencial de proporcionar ambientes instigantes, interativos e que ajudam a viabilizar a busca pelo conhecimento e a reflexão crítica pelos alunos. Neste cenário percebeu-se a relevância de responder a seguinte questão de pesquisa: “como desenvolver as competências dos profissionais para atuação em organizações de manufatura no contexto da indústria 4.0, utilizando tecnologias de realidade virtual?”. Para responder esta questão de pesquisa a presente tese propõe um novo método baseado em Design Instrucional, o qual foi desenvolvido através do método de pesquisa Design Science Research. O método proposto é constituído de seis etapas: Preparação, Determinação de Competências a Desenvolver, Modelagem das Operações, Construção Instrucional, Aplicação Inicial e Implementação Completa. Foram desenvolvidas ferramentas de suporte que visam apoiar a adoção do método em uma organização industrial. O método proposto foi inicialmente avaliado por um painel de especialistas, o qual recomendou algumas melhorias que foram incorporadas na versão final do método. Ele também foi avaliado através de uma tentativa de implementação em uma organização até a etapa de Aplicação Inicial. Para a modelagem dos ambientes virtuais foi utilizada a plataforma OpenSimulator, onde scripts programados nas linguagens LSL e OSSL foram associados a objetos virtuais 3D. O resultado da avaliação do método foi considerado satisfatório, considerando os resultados observados. Finalmente o objetivo geral e os objetivos específicos da pesquisa foram avaliados e considerados atendidos. Levando em consideração a proeminência e atualidade do tema, assim como o grau de ineditismo associado a esta tese, acredita-se que esta pesquisa tem o potencial de contribuir favoravelmente no suprimento das demandas educacionais crescentes das indústrias sob o contexto de transformação digital alavancada pela Indústria 4.0.Manufacturing organizations are increasing in general the demand for qualified professionals to deal with the increasing complexity of processes and products, at the same time the new paradigm "Industry 4.0" suggests the need for specific skills to work in this context. For the development of such skills, the interest in virtual reality technologies adoption has increased, as they have become more accessible and have the potential to provide instigating and interactive environments that help to enable the search for knowledge and critical reflection by students. In this scenario, the relevance of answering the following research question was perceived: "how to develop the skills of personnel to work in manufacturing organizations in the context of industry 4.0, using virtual reality technologies?" To answer this research question this thesis proposes a new method based on Instructional Design, which was developed through the Design Science Research methodology. The proposed method is comprised of six stages: Preparation, Determination of Competencies to be Developed, Operations Modeling, Instructional Construction, Initial Application and Complete Implementation. Support Tools were developed to uphold the method adoption in industrial organizations. The proposed method was initially evaluated by an expert panel, who recommended some improvements that were incorporated into the final version of the method. It was also assessed through an attempt to implement it in an organization up to the Initial Application stage. For modeling virtual environments, the OpenSimulator platform was used, where scripts coded in LSL and OSSL languages were associated to virtual 3D objects. The result of the method evaluation was considered satisfactory, due to the observed results. Finally, the general and the specific research objectives were evaluated and considered fulfilled. Taking into consideration the prominence and timeliness of the theme, as well as the degree of novelty associated with this thesis, it is believed that this research has the potential to positively contribute to meeting the growing educational demands of industries in the context of the digital transformation leveraged by Industry 4.0

Initial Perception of Virtual World Users: A Study about Impacts of Learning Styles and Digital Experience

Virtual Worlds emerge as three-dimensional environments that have the potential to stimulate advances in the educational field by promoting interactivity, freedom and autonomy for students. However, its effective adoption in educational institutions is still considered very limited, and few studies have so far sought to identify more specific causes for such limitation. This research aims to contribute to the theme through a preliminary study about the impact of individual characteristics of learning styles and digital experience on users’ initial perception about 3D Virtual Worlds. An experiment was conducted with a sample consisting of potential influencers in the decision making process for adoption of this type of approach, being composed by professionals from educational area that experimented a 3D virtual laboratory for the first time. As a result, some insights about the mentioned characteristics’ influence on user first impression are identified and some potential adjustments necessary to better fit different profiles are suggested, envisioning to disseminate theuse of Virtual Worlds in Education

An OWL-Based Ontology to Represent Interactions of Students in Educational Virtual Worlds

While several studies in the last decade explore the potential benefits of virtual worlds in education settings, less attention has been given to the research of solutions to help overcome implementation barriers. One of the existing areas of concern is related to the difficulties on the exploitation of data obtained from educational virtual worlds. This paper proposes an OWL-based ontology to address a solution to the problem of inconsistency of databases that record information about student interactions with learning objects within these environments. The steps that have been followed for the development of the ontology are described, guided by Stanford’s 101 model. To discuss the feasibility and exemplify the ontology, an instance of an existing virtual world interaction is presented. The conclusion is that the proposed ontology can be helpful to researchers and development groups as it delivers a reusable model to gather data in a uniform way

Concepts, approaches, and avenues for modelling crop health and crop losses

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