The Case of Critical Thinking Training of Engineers in the Vertical TransportationIndustry Applying Virtual Reality : An Empirical Digital Transformation Research

Abstract

Purpose This thesis aims to conduct empirical research to develop and evaluate engineers' critical thinking training in the industry applying virtual reality as a digital transformation solution. Design/methodology/approach The research methodology includes a literature review of virtual reality, critical thinking training for engineers, and digital transformation. Consequently, It uses Design Science Research and Minimum Viable Product methodologies to develop virtual reality training software and hardware. Finally, this study conducts a comparative analysis of critical thinking learning in traditional and virtual reality training applying the Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment 1 (Halpern D. F., 2014; Halpern D. F., 2016; Butler, 2012). Findings The literature review highlights the scarcity of virtual reality training in the industrial context. The literature review highlights the lack of virtual reality training in the industrial context. Remarkably, the study shows that no prior research applies critical thinking measures in designing the virtual reality training and evaluating the learning outcomes for engineers in the industry. Additionally, the Halpern critical thinking assessment review concerning the skills necessary for engineers reduced the dimensions to only “decision-making and problem-solving” and “thinking as hypothesis testing.” The results indicate that the engineers who participated in virtual reality training were more enthusiastic and curious about the subject matter. They shared more details about their experiential training in terms of the impact of physical space or time. The “learning by doing” training in virtual reality shows a 15% improvement in the participants' critical thinking and a significant positive impact of 54% in recognition memory. The study shows that virtual reality training represents advantages for scenarios of difficult accessibility, dangerous access, costly mobilization, among others. The findings regard virtual reality as a low-cost digital strategy with a higher impact than traditional training. It helps leverage the benefits of technologies in developing projects aimed at digital transformation in companies by identifying "meta-requirements" and "principle designs" through a design science research method focused on problem-solving. The pilot tests demonstrated that avoiding systematic errors such as glass calibration, environmental interference, or character scale in the planning and design stage of software and hardware can eliminate additional costs and generate more reliable results.