Building And Using Virtual Enterprises In Agricultural Education

Abstract

Access to virtual food and fibre enterprises is a relatively new phenomenon in tertiary education. Historically enterprise visits have mostly occurred by experiential learning on a farm or have been via limited use of images or video in the classroom. The development of mass marketed virtual reality head mounted displays has increased the popularity and availability of virtual reality in the last decade, although virtual tours may be used on other displays as well. This paper provides a short background of Australian agricultural education and virtual reality followed by an overview of what is needed to produce a virtual food or fibre enterprise tour and three case studies of how tours can be used within teaching. These case studies include a use case for online learning modules, face to face case studies, online work integrated learning and as part of assessment following enterprise visits. Virtual reality has significant potential to improve student learning and maximise benefits of field visits however further research is needed to define the benefits to staff and students when virtual tours are included in the curriculum.