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.