Overview
In vocational schools, through intercorporate courses and at work, apprentices prepare for the professional practice of their trade and become specialists in their chosen field. Virtual and Augmented Reality offer a new venue for learning, where students are encouraged to make mistakes and to gather valuable experience in the process. For instance, a nurse in training would be able to administer the wrong medication in virtual space without putting a patient in danger.
In their basic training and in the vocational baccalaureate programme, a first batch of pilot classes at the GIBZ will explore a range of new learning formats. The project’s basic planning stages started in January 2021. They included the definition of the first three clusters (health, planning and the sciences). In the ongoing second stage, learning content is being described in VR, AR and 3D implemented in collaboration with the team of the Immersive Realities Center of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In the next stage and in addition to the GIBZ, the companies employing GIBZ students and the intercorporate learning centers (ÜK) will also be able to offer courses in the Interaction Space of the Lucerne School of Computer Science and Information Technology. The Interaction Space is a space where SMEs and vocational schools can experience Virtual and Augmented Reality outside a gaming and entertainment industry context. It is open to the public by prior appointment.
The goals of this collaboration also include the proper specialist assessment and evaluation of the education modules developed in terms of their inclusion and delivery in vocational training. The GIBZ and the HSLU benefit from their mutual exchange and from the development of leading-edge educational formats that also help them to retain their innovative power and appeal as educational institutions.
