Pantallas para el Usuario

Most lecturers commented that the BP VR application was useful. In terms of system performance, two lecturers commented that the loading time was slow. However, these two lecturers were navigating the VR application while running CAMTASIA and the loading time was very much affected by this. No comments regarding the slow loading time were received from the others.

All except two lecturers found that navigation was quite easy after they had practised following the brief demonstration, with one adding “...except for the hotspots colours and the tips”. The two lecturers who did not find navigation easy had actually used the VR application before. One commented that “there is no sense of direction even after using it several times”. Further comments and suggestions from the lecturers relating to the components and the presentation of the application are shown in Table 6.

Most lecturers had ideas on how to use the application as a teaching resource; these varied depending on the courses they were teaching.

Table 6 Comments and suggestions from the participants relating to the VR application.

Item Comments Suggestions

Hotspots

 The colour was difficult to see.

 The colour made the equipment

look rusty rather than highlighting the items.

 Use a completely different colour from the plant so that it could be clearly seen.

 Display the hotspots by default instead of having users click on the button to display them.

Map

 Most lecturers commented that the map was useful.

 The map was considered small and caused the items on the map to be too close to each other.

 Have a means of showing the direction in which the user is facing in the virtual plant.

 Have indicators of the height of the equipment.

 Add extra information such as informing users about the current location and where they are moving next.

Compass  The compass was difficult to look at

and most users did not realise it was there.

-

Diagrams (PFDs and P&IDs)

 Lack of links between the PFD and the pieces of equipment in the VE (i.e., when the link to the PFD of a piece of equipment in the VE is clicked, the same piece of equipment in the PFD should be highlighted).

Note: Only few links are available instead of all components in the PFD.

 More links between the PFD and the panoramas.

Animation/ Video/ Interactive

Page

 Mixed responses were received for the ‘pump shutdown activity page’, where one commented that it is very good and other three commented that it was frustrating and not intuitive.

 Two lecturers did not like the induction video and one stated that it was too long.

 One commented that the animation

video of the process is useful.

 Have the instructions next to the button (of the pump in the activity page) instead of having the instructions displayed at the bottom panel when the tips button is clicked.

Functionality

 The search engine did not work well.

 The lack of ability to go to the previous page.

 Have a ‘back’ button to allow a return to the previous page.

 Have an improved search function.

360o

panoramas -

 Have the information appear when the cursor hovers on a piece of equipment in the VE.

 Have an indicator on the ‘highlighted green arrow’ to show the direction in which users are facing (north, south, east and west).

 Show the scale and size of the equipment in the plant.

The suggestions related to using the application as a teaching resource included:

 The VR application could be used as a virtual field trip for students since the students could go back and forth looking at the virtual plant which is better than a physical field trip, which is a one-off trip (two lecturers).

 The VR application could be used to show the complexity of the process plant, which relates to a health and safety issues course (one lecturer).

 The animated pages could be used to show students how specific equipment works (two lecturers).

 The pump shutdown activity page could be used as part of his teaching material (one lecturer).

 The VR application could be used for students to perform calculation tasks provided that the values for certain equipment, for example, pressure, can be changed so that it provides students with the values to perform the calculation (one lecturer).

Though most had ideas about using the application as a teaching resource, most also stated that the content of the application did not relate to courses they were currently teaching.

3.4

Discussion

The objectives of the user study were:

i. To identify issues related to the VR application (which may corroborate the findings of the literature review).

ii. To assess the lecturers’ opinion of the BP VR application and how it could be used as teaching and learning resource.

For the first objective, although most lecturers and students were able to complete the tasks given in the user study with minimal assistance, the comments from the lecturers suggested two main issues related to navigation and the user interface, which supports the issues identified in Chapter 2.