Impact of Immersive Technology Applied in Computer Graphics Learning

In this paper we describe an application of immersive technology to a specific learning context. In this case, a Virtual Reality environment was created for the purpose of delivering lesson content in a Computer Graphics discipline for students of engineering and architecture courses. The virtual environment was designed to demonstrate lighting model algorithms and aspects of 3D rendering techniques. An experiment was carried out in which students were divided in two groups that viewed the same lesson content in two versions: immersive and non-immersive version. In this pilot study we describe the application in details and discuss preliminary results based on analysis of the participants perceptions collected through presence questionnaire. Our results revealed that the experimental group using the immersive version showed higher levels of presence and involvement as compared with the control group.