John K. Ostrander, Conrad S. Tucker, Timothy W. Simpson, Nicholas A. Meisel
J. Mech. Des. May 2020, 142(5): 051702

Additive manufacturing (AM) is becoming more prevalent in the classroom. Most AM education, though, is limited to desktop-scale material extrusion printers since they are relatively safe, easy to use, and inexpensive. However, industry demand continues to rise for students skilled in more advanced forms of AM, such as laser-based, metal powder bed fusion. Unfortunately, the cost, infrastructure, and training necessary for using these complex systems in education present challenges for classroom implementation. This research proposes using virtual reality (VR) as a medium for teaching introductory concepts of AM without the need for a physical printing system located in the classroom. Changes in student knowledge are identified using a pre-/post-AM lesson evaluation and student-reported changes in self-efficacy. Results showed no overall significant difference between knowledge gained in the physical AM environment and knowledge gained in the VR environment. This suggests that VR could be used as a successful approach for teaching AM concepts if cost, space, or infrastructure make it difficult to implement a physical industrial-scale AM system. There was also no significant difference found in knowledge gained in a passive VR environment when compared with an interactive VR environment. This suggests that even simple, accessible, low-cost VR solutions (such as Google Cardboard) could be used to educate the future AM workforce.