Immersive Technologies for Educational Applications: A Pathway to Enhanced User Experience in Engineering Courses

Educational courses in areas such as control, robotics, manufacturing, mechanical, and chemical engineering are characterized by extensive theoretical content and complex mathematical procedures, which turn into a difficult task for students. In this sense, the most recent advances in immersive technologies, including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality can be applied to improve understanding around complex contexts. Moreover, educational projects that guarantee real-time implementation in various types of learning processes are crucial to bring theory closer to practice, and to enhance the engagement of the students. In recent years, a large number of projects in which electronic resources are used to develop educational kits have gained substantial interest promoting an effective learning in engineering courses under the concept of “learning by doing”. By using this technology, students shift traditional learning environments, design their own experiments and repeat their experiments, which conduct a deeper analysis of experimental results.This Research Topic aims to introduce the most recent advances in immersive technologies to help students gain clear theoretical understanding and strong technical skills for addressing real-world challenges. The integration of these technologies presents an interdisciplinary platform that extends beyond engineering and education, which can be applied in various types of learning processes to improve understanding around complex contexts and create new ways of teaching and learning processes.This topic issue also seeks to foster an interdisciplinary discussion on recent progress in engineering education to publish high-quality research papers with an emphasis on new approaches and techniques for educational applications.The Research Topic invites researchers, scholars, practitioners, and experts to submit their original research articles that further this expanding area of study. In light of the educational applications, contributors are invited to submit their original manuscripts on topics including, but not limited to:1. Advances in VR and AR technologies for student engagement 2. Assessment of user engagement in immersive environments 3. Machine learning techniques for user experiences analysis in immersive experiences4. Case studies of educational projects using kits for real-time implementation5. Application of Artificial Intelligence to provide supplementary materials for students6. Evaluation of on-line and non-traditional courses using virtual and remote labs7. Best practices and curriculum design in courses with engineering topicsThe guest editors look forward to receiving your contributions to this topic. Let us continue to push the advances of immersive technologies in engineering education. Topic editors: Carlos Sotelo, Francisco Beltran-Carbajal, David Sotelo, Hugo Yañez-Badillo Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76249/immersive-technologies-for-educational-applications-a-pathway-to-enhanced-user-experience-in-engineering-courses