Virtual Reality Technology Education is Provided at MAKÜ Çavdır Vocational School
Yapılış Tarihi | 13 March 2024, Wednesday
Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (MAKÜ) has made another innovation. At MAKÜ Çavdır Vocational School, Occupational Health and Safety courses are being taught with VR (Virtual Reality) Technology.
Çavdır Vocational School has enhanced the quality of education it provides to its students with a VR Technology laboratory, which is very rare in Vocational Schools in Turkey.
In the Occupational Health and Safety training they receive with VR Technology, students gain experience in a virtual simulation created in a laboratory environment using VR electronic equipment (glasses, controller, or gloves, etc.) by dressing a mannequin in safety clothing in a virtual environment.
Innovative Education: Occupational Health and Safety Courses with VR
MAKÜ Çavdır MYO Director Dr. Lecturer Mehmet Öçal, who stated that they have implemented the education curriculum using VR technology in the Occupational Health and Safety Laboratory, provided information about the application and said; “Work accidents and occupational diseases are actually one of the most important social problems in the world. At this point, in our Çavdır Vocational School, with our priorities in teaching students about humane working environments, healthy and safe working environments, work that befits human dignity, and employee welfare in our occupational health and safety program, we have implemented the education curriculum using VR technology in our Occupational Health and Safety Laboratory. With the integration of equipment obtained from the European Union Project carried out by our university into our university's laboratory, our students can now learn the use of personal protective equipment with VR technology in Çavdır, and in the future, they will be able to learn about hazards and dangerous situations directly according to the application procedure within this process. In other words, we have integrated this into the curriculum. We are one of the few Vocational Schools in Turkey that have implemented this. Very few universities have VR technology directly integrated into their course curricula in a very limited number of laboratories. Our aim here is to increase the quality of education provided to our students. With this quality, we aim to ensure that our students can find jobs much more easily in the labor market after graduation.”
Practical Training Opportunity with VR
MAKÜ Çavdır MYO Occupational Health and Safety Department Head Lecturer Tufan Şahin also emphasized that the laboratory is the most equipped laboratory in Turkey, saying; “Our Occupational Health Laboratory at Çavdır Vocational School is the largest Occupational Health and Safety Laboratory in Turkey in terms of equipment. We provided the equipment for this laboratory with our university's BAP Project. We are trying to integrate VR Technology into the project. The biggest advantage for us is that due to the limitation of working and application areas in rural areas, the more sectors we can show our students, the better it will be, and with the software model of this VR Technology, we can bring all sectors to Çavdır Vocational School.” He said.
İlayda Fidangül, a first-year student of the Occupational Health and Safety Department at Çavdır Vocational School, who received Occupational Health and Safety training with VR Technology, also expressed that having such training at their school would provide them with a great advantage in their professional lives and shared her experiences about the practical training they received with VR Technology. Fidangül said, “We conduct our classes practically with VR technology. We have a mannequin as if it were real, we dress and undress it. This training is a great advantage for us in this way.”
