Dr. Ricardo Eiris will present the workshop, “Virtual Site Visits Using Web-Based Social Spaces,” on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., in the Memorial Union Ballrooms B2 and B3. The workshop is part of the Computing[MTU] Showcase, April 4-6, 2022.
Workshop Description: Site visits or field trips have been a tool utilized by educators to engage students in active learning, assist traditional lessons, and attain stronger and deeper student learning experiences. Nevertheless, site visits present major logistical and accessibility challenges, which reduces the number of students that have access to the benefits of such a technique. The limitations for site visits have further broadened recently, as COVID-19 public health concerns have forced educators to move to online course delivery quickly and the majority of site visits have been canceled. This presentation introduces the utilization of easy-to-create and device agnostic (e.g., computers, mobile devices, head-mounted displays) web-based social spaces to deliver virtual site visits. Virtual site visits are defined as multimedia representation of a distant location that leverages computing devices for students to observe and interact with site-specific information. This presentation will provide details for: (1) Virtual site visit concepts and principles (what web-based social spaces and the science behind them); (2) Guidelines to design and develop virtual site visits using web-bases social spaces; (3) Evidence of how virtual site visits have been utilized in construction management courses.
About Ricardo Eiris: Dr. Eiris obtained a Ph.D. in Design, Construction, and Planning from the University of Florida in 2020. He also holds a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering (2013), a M.Sc. in Civil Engineering (2016), a M.Sc. in Construction Management (2016), and a M.Sc. in Digital Arts and Sciences (2020). His research interests focus on human-technology interaction within construction management to understand and develop human learning, problem-solving, and collaboration. He leverages new technologies to explore the research areas of human-technology interaction, real/virtual humans in mixed reality, cyberlearning, and human-computer/robot collaborations. His teaching interests are in areas of Technology Applications in Construction, Building Information Modeling (BIM), Construction Safety, and Building Utilities (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing).