Virtual visits
A common part of the curriculum in engineering and applied science programmes is the Site Visit. Such activities encompasse the physical attendance of students at industrial, construction or geological/geotechnical investigation sites during which teachers and industry specialists intervene to illustrate or supplement
theoretical knowledge seen in class. Such visits have not been possible during the COVID crisis and are limited in an international context.
Many engineering and science courses have site visits embedded in the curriculum where such sites may include construction sites for engineers and construction managers,
industrial sites for engineers and scientists, ecological sites for earth science students etc. The learning outcomes for modules containing site visits may, thus, be reduced. Given that the project team is based in France, Germany, Portugal and Ireland, it is likely that all the students of these european universities will have
access to the virtual tours of each universities. For example, SEEDS would provide the resources for French, Portuguese and German students to experience a site visit to an Irish project.
The Virtual Visits module allow students from different countries and different disciplines to collaborate closely and to experience the latest technological developments being implemented in practice. The project will also provide opportunities to students of all physical abilities and financial resources to experience modern construction/industrial projects.
We see computer science students working in the area of augmented reality working closely with students organising and experiencing the site visits to produce tools which fundamentally increase the resilience of our universities to deal with access difficulties, whatever the reason.