Developing and Evaluating a Virtual Training Process for Energy Audit Education

Behlul Kula; Andreana Louise Roxas; Kristen Sara Cetin; Annick Anctil; George Berghorn; Ryan Patrick Gallagher

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Virtual Training, Online and Open Education; Instructional Technology
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43058
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/43058
Download Count: 121

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Paper Authors

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Behlul Kula Michigan State University

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Behlul Kula is currently a Ph.D. student and graduate research assistant in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at Michigan State University (MSU). Also, he is a team member of the MSU Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) as an energy & sustainability analyst. He completed his Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering from Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Turkey in 2015. He then worked in Qatar as a site civil engineer at Dogus Construction company for nearly one year. After, he completed his MSc Degree in Construction Management from Istanbul Technical University in 2019. For his MSc thesis, he focused on the integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in facilities management. Before joining MSU, he worked as a research & teaching assistant at ITU from 2017 to 2021.

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Andreana Louise Roxas

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Kristen Sara Cetin P.E. Michigan State University

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Dr. Kristen S Cetin is an Associate Professor at Michigan State University in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

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Abstract

This paper is a work-in-progress (WIP) and an evidence-based practice paper. As efforts to decarbonize buildings increase, energy workforce development efforts are greatly needed to train the next generation of professionals. One such program that is training this new energy workforce is the Department of Energy’s Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) program which aims to increase the efficiency and productivity of small and medium sized industrial facilities and commercial buildings through conducting energy audits. Student training is an integral part of this program, where students participate in all aspects of these audits. However, training participants to be prepared for field work can be challenging without ready access to a manufacturing or commercial space. As immersive technologies have increased in availability, such technologies have the potential to be used to help support training. However, the methods of use and effectiveness of immersive technology for student learning have yet to be evaluated. Virtual Reality (VR) is among the most preferred methods across these immersive technologies. While there are many studies using VR technology, there are no known studies specifically focused on its use for commercial and industrial energy audit training. This WIP paper discusses an overview of the project and proposed methods that use virtual models to train students in energy audit processes and evaluate their effectiveness in comparison to traditional methods of teaching. In this project, first, virtual models as training environments are created by scanning real-world environments and used to train students via computers and VR headsets connected to these created virtual models. As a follow-on evaluation, students’ performance is then assessed during a real-world, in-person energy audit to understand the effectiveness of the various modes of training. Their effectiveness on student learning is then evaluated by conducting surveys and comparing performance metrics. The results can be used by organizations and programs to improve the training of the energy workforce.

Citation
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Kula, B., & Roxas, A. L., & Cetin, K. S., & Anctil, A., & Berghorn, G., & Gallagher, R. P. (2023, June), Developing and Evaluating a Virtual Training Process for Energy Audit Education Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43058

TY - CPAPER
AB - This paper is a work-in-progress (WIP) and an evidence-based practice paper. As efforts to decarbonize buildings increase, energy workforce development efforts are greatly needed to train the next generation of professionals. One such program that is training this new energy workforce is the Department of Energy’s Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) program which aims to increase the efficiency and productivity of small and medium sized industrial facilities and commercial buildings through conducting energy audits. Student training is an integral part of this program, where students participate in all aspects of these audits. However, training participants to be prepared for field work can be challenging without ready access to a manufacturing or commercial space. As immersive technologies have increased in availability, such technologies have the potential to be used to help support training. However, the methods of use and effectiveness of immersive technology for student learning have yet to be evaluated. Virtual Reality (VR) is among the most preferred methods across these immersive technologies. While there are many studies using VR technology, there are no known studies specifically focused on its use for commercial and industrial energy audit training. This WIP paper discusses an overview of the project and proposed methods that use virtual models to train students in energy audit processes and evaluate their effectiveness in comparison to traditional methods of teaching. In this project, first, virtual models as training environments are created by scanning real-world environments and used to train students via computers and VR headsets connected to these created virtual models. As a follow-on evaluation, students’ performance is then assessed during a real-world, in-person energy audit to understand the effectiveness of the various modes of training. Their effectiveness on student learning is then evaluated by conducting surveys and comparing performance metrics. The results can be used by organizations and programs to improve the training of the energy workforce.
AU - Behlul Kula
AU - Andreana Louise Roxas
AU - Kristen Sara Cetin P.E.
AU - Annick Anctil
AU - George Berghorn
AU - Ryan Patrick Gallagher
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Developing and Evaluating a Virtual Training Process for Energy Audit Education
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/43058
DO - 10.18260/1-2--43058
ER -