Immersive Virtual Reality Training of Bioreactor Operations

This paper explores the application of immersive virtual reality (VR) as a training environment for biopharmaceutical engineering processes. An immersive simulation of a real-world industrial bioreactor setup was developed. This allows repeated practice in a safe and contextualized environment and mitigate limited access to equipment for hands-on training opportunities. It is hypothesized that using VR as an authentic context will assist in achieving the learning outcomes of performing operations in industry standard bioreactor setups, and understanding cellular processes. Two preliminary studies were conducted to evaluate the benefits of the VR application. Using pre- and post tests, there were comparable improvements using the VR application when compared to traditional lab lessons. Qualitatively, participants indicated benefits to learning through repeated practice and immersion in a realistic 3D lab environment. The introduction of gamification methods as motivators are areas to be further explored to better integrate students' theoretical and practical understanding compared to traditional approaches.