A Comparison Study on the Learning Effectiveness of Construction Training Scenarios in a Virtual Reality Environment

While VR-based training has been proven to improve learning effectiveness over conventional methods, there is a lack of study on its learning effectiveness due to the implementation of training modes. This study aims to investigate the learning effectiveness of engineering students under different training modes in VR-based construction design training. Three VR scenarios with varying degrees of immersiveness were developed based on Dale’s cone of learning experience, including (1) Audio-visual based training, (2) Interactive-based training, and (3) Contrived hands-on experience training. Sixteen students with varying backgrounds participated in this study. The results posit a positive correlation between learning effectiveness and the degree of immersiveness, with a mean score of 77.33%, 81.33%, and 82.67% in each training scenario, respectively. Participants with lower academic performance tend to perform significantly better in audio-visual and interactive-based training. Meanwhile, participants with experience in gaming tend to outperform the latter group. Results also showed that participants with less experience in gaming benefited the most from hands-on VR training. The findings suggest that the general audience retained the most information via hands-on VR training; however, training scenarios should be contextualized toward the targeted group to maximize learning effectiveness