The contribution of the physical and virtual field trips

The participants’ responses revealed three broad themes:

 Learning aspect: The definition for the learning aspect was based on Orion and Hofstein (1991) as described in Section 6.2.3.

 Career aspect: This refers to the exposure to a variety of plants with different working environments and different processes within each plant.

 People aspect: This is related to the experience of people working in the plant such as their job scope and daily routine.

From these three aspects, only the learning aspect was experienced in both the PFT and VFT, and some aspects of learning differed between them. The career and people aspects were experienced only in the PFT.

Table 18 shows the themes and the subthemes derived from the analysis, including examples of responses from the participants.

In addition to the above, the responses received from the participants regarding the VFT also revealed that the features and appearance of the VR application contributed to learning aspects of the VFT. Participants stated that the information, including the links between the panels in the VR application, the hotspots, videos and animations helped them to better understand the processes occurring in the plant shown during the VFT (see Table 19).

Table 18 The different contributions of the PFT and the VFT.

THEME SUB-THEME Response example

PFT VFT Learning aspect Exposure to the actual process of the material learned in class.

Seeing the operations that we learn about in class, working in an industrial

environment.(P1)

It has given a practical/real world look into what we learn in the classroom.(P2)

Helps to visualise things we learned about in class. (P7)

Probably easier than reading a book, however, it cannot completely replace book work, or actually seeing something. It is very good for visualisation of a process and understanding the overall picture of a process. (P10) Exposure to a different range of industries in NZ and understand the related processes.

It is rewarding to see the process in its entirety, where you can see the raw materials coming in and the final products coming out, and to learn how efficient the process is compared with other places that produce the same product, or how the plant does things differently to their competition.(P9)

-

Scale and size. It gives a good concept of scale.(P7)

It is really a good way of getting an idea of the scale of a process without having to visit a plant.(P1X)

Layout and position of the plant and equipment.

-

Get to know the layout of the plant (e.g., location of control room, spacing between unit operations). This will certainly help in our design project course. (P5X)

Understanding the process.

Seeing actual plants in operations helped me learn the daily operations of things that occur at a process plant. In addition, it helped me understand some of the concepts we had learnt in class and how they relate to real life situations/plants.

(P3)

The virtual field trip helps to

understand the processes involved. It allows for a more in-depth look at the equipment & processes than a real field trip. (P5)

Health and safety.

It helps understanding regarding safety

and hazards. (P7) - Learning at own pace, a lot of information in a short time. -

Allows me to go back to things if I can remember what was going on. If I get confused I can just go back a step. (P8)

Career

aspect -

It gives an indication of what areas of

process engineering I want to get into. (P2) -

People

aspect -

It is good hearing the experiences of the engineers who are guides throughout the trips and what they do on a day to day basis. (P9)

The trip gives a "feel" of the plant. (By feel, I mean people's attitude at the plant, how workers interact, whether or not people enjoy working at the plant, etc.). (P10)

-

Table 19 The features of the VR application that assist in understanding the VFT.

THEME SUB-THEME Response example

VR

application

Links between the 360˚ panoramas and additional

information (e.g., diagrams, 3D model,).

Being able to see the physical aspects, theoretical aspects and plan overviews in the same 'trip' is very beneficial.

(P10X)

Follow the process nicely, simple to understand. Great to see the actual plant alongside the PFD, aids in understanding the process. (P8)

Easy identification of the equipment (hotspots).

It was good that the piece of equipment that had been talked about was highlighted in green, so you could easily identify what you were meant to be looking at. (P9) Videos.

The videos which show how the equipment works (pumps, hammers, powder packing) are really helpful. Seeing the moving parts gives a better understanding of how it works.

(P1X)

Guide Explanation given by

the guide.

Good accompanying guides + written notes + explanation helps in understanding process engineering. (P4X)

The details of Tables 18 and 19 are further discussed.

Learning aspect - Exposure to the actual process of the material learned in class. Participants felt both the PFT and VFT helped them to relate the concepts and theories learned in class to the actual processes in a plant. They also added that the VFT provides a more detailed explanation than the PFT. In the VFT, participants found the interface of the VR application, including the explanation by the guide, helped them to visualise and understand the processes learned in the class.

Learning aspect - Scale and size. Participants found that both the PFT and VFT were useful in showing the size and scale of the equipment used in the plant that were difficult to visualise by looking at pictures. In the VFT, this was gained via the 3D map with the help of the ‘human figure’ on the 3D map. One participant stated that the 3D map, which provides the layout of the plant including the position and spacing of the pieces of equipment, was helpful for their final year design project.

Learning aspect - Understanding the process. Participants felt that both the PFT and VFT provided them with an understanding of processes in the plant. The participants in the VFT group stated that this was gained via the different formats of information presented in the VR application and the guide’s explanation. Although this is limited because the VFT covers only one type of process plant, the participants attending the PFT appreciated the

exposure they had to different types of sites that allowed them to experience the different processes at each site (i.e., MDF, the fertiliser plant). One participant also stated that seeing actual problems at the plant was beneficial, “Seeing how companies cope with different failures and changes was good to see as well. At the gold mine, they had water running over the ground because they could not stop the process to change/fix it. Gaining knowledge that things cannot always be replaced straight away was a very good thing to learn.” (P6), In addition, participants stated that the information they gained from the engineers was different from the lecturers because the engineers are more involved in solving real problems and not just focusing on the theoretical part.

Learning aspect - Health and safety issues. This was identified as a learning contribution only by participants attending the PFT because they had ‘hands-on’ experience with safety clothing. In the VFT, no ‘hands-on’ experience was available and the participants were only shown the red line room and the clothing needed before entering the milk processing plant.

Learning aspect - Learning at own pace, a lot of information in a short time. One participant stated that the VFT provided him with a lot of information in a short time and another three added that the VFT is useful as they could learn at their own pace. Although they were not using the VR application by themselves, they still had the opportunity to do so via the guide, i.e., one participant asked the guide to replay the ‘pneumatic hammer’ video as s(he) could not clearly see it at first.

People aspect. This is related to the experience the participants on the PFT gained from the people working in the plant such as their job scope and daily routine. In the PFT group, four participants felt exposure to people working in the plant helped them to gain knowledge related to the workers’ experiences, “It is good hearing the experiences of the engineers who are guides throughout the trips and what they do on a day to day basis.”

(P9).

Career aspect. This refers to the exposure to a variety of plants with different working environments and different processes. Two participants of the PFT group viewed the exposure they gained by visiting various plants as an opportunity for career planning, i.e., whether they would like to work in this type of environment.