Developing the Augmented Virtual Exercise Physiology Laboratories (AVEPL) with Real Data Using VR Camera

Kinesiology has become one of the most popular majors at large California state universities such as San Diego State, where it was the second-most popular major in 2016 with 1,252 students. At Humboldt State University, Kinesiology majors have increased 18.3% in the last 3 years, while total enrollment has increased to only 8.3% in 2016. KINS 379 Exercise Physiology course is the important gate keeper course of the Department of Kinesiology. Four and 6 years’ Department of Kinesiology students’ graduation rate has decreased, and the KINS 379 course has been highlighted as a bottleneck for student success. Lab experience is one of the most important part of this course, but most CSU campuses do not have enough appropriately sized lab facilities (place-bound bottlenecks) and adequate equipment to provide hands-on lab activities to their Kinesiology major students due to the expensive costs (facilities bottlenecks).

The AVEPL funded by this grant explored ways to dramatically reduce enrollment bottleneck challenges for Kinesiology major students in CSU system and provided a lower cost, experiential, accessible alternative for students. The team created immersive VR experiences with real laboratory data for Kinesiology major students in the CSU. The grant funded this faculty-student collaboration and produced three different high quality major Exercise Physiology classic laboratories modules/scenarios (lab simulation) with real data from CSU systems that can be shared throughout the CSU system.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Young Kwon & Kim Vincent-Layton, Humboldt State Univeristy

Grant Cycle

Spring 2018