Designing a virtual reality-support for the thesis supervision meetings: A case of a Sino-British international university in China

Yiming Luo, Shuling Sun, Yihong Wang, Di Wu, Yuanbing Ouyang, Yushi Li, Yushan Pan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Thesis supervision is a crucial teaching activity in higher education that plays a vital role in assisting students in completing their studies. The outbreak of COVID-19 has necessitated the transitionto remote, synchronous interactions for supervising academic papers. However, existing tools for conducting these remote sessions often fall short of meeting the requirements of both teachers and students. This paper focuses on an investigation into the utilization of virtual reality (VR) technology for conducting remote thesis supervision meetings at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), a Sino-British institution located in Suzhou, China. Through a year-long qualitative inquiry involving two teachers and five students who participated in the project both in Liverpool and Suzhou, this research examines how actual collaborative work is conducted during remote supervision via a research-developed tool. The results of this study emphasize the need for improvements in the current design to better align with the practical requirements of teachers and students during such meetings. Furthermore, this research provides insights into the design considerations for VR applications tailored to specific use cases and offers a set of implementation details to guide the development of VR-based remote collaboration tools for thesis supervision meetings.

Original languageEnglish
Article number100047
JournalComputers and Education: X Reality
Volume3
Issue number100047
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2023

Keywords

  • Collaborative virtual environment
  • Distance learning
  • Higher education
  • Virtual reality

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