Breaking new ground with VR in ag training

Mikaela, together with members of the agriculture teaching team, have revolutionised traditional learning approaches using VR to explore practical agricultural tasks like livestock handling and equipment use. While the initial filming process was quite intensive, the VR sessions have proven valuable for all, especially for those unfamiliar with livestock production and international students.

Mikaela sees VR as a tool to engage students and introduce them to agricultural careers, advocating for its broader application across various trades.

Based in Kingaroy, Mikaela lives on the land and works with livestock, so when the opportunity arose to do something a little bit different and develop new tools to contribute to TAFE Queensland students’ learning, Mikaela was naturally on board but was initially sceptical.  

“How can you teach a student with a headset on their head to learn about livestock or machinery? I just couldn’t see how VR would work in agriculture, but it does,” said Mikaela.

The VR sessions were created to introduce TAFE Queensland agriculture students to various early-career tasks, which included a basic livestock scenario, personal protective equipment (PPE) and farming-related equipment.

“The first shoot was to film and ‘unload and load’ ultimately guiding the livestock into the vet crush, you begin with guiding the bull towards the head bail using gates or barriers, and into the vet crush. [The animal is then secure for examinations, vaccinations, or markings.] This process needed to be repeated over 30 times to capture every angle of pulling a very large but thankfully receptive angus bull into the vet crush,” explained Mikaela.

“The outcome is the opportunity for students to see what’s required during an ‘unload and load with livestock’ scenario – this is a very basic introduction to ag, so the next progressive step will be VR where students learn how to safely move themselves around cattle.”

“For example, capturing the ‘flight zones’ and then how to get the animal into the next pen,” Mikaela said.

TAFE Queensland Ag educator Mikaela Ross with Think Digital Founder Tim Gentle.

Mikaela has used this initial VR filming session with livestock significantly this year with her agriculture students at the Kingaroy campus, as have her colleagues who train international students.

“Some of these international students have never been anywhere near a livestock production area, nor have they touched a hand tool, so it’s great to allow them to engage with it,” Mikaela continued.

“By incorporating the use of VR headsets, we (teachers) can make our classes so much more practical, and with the livestock session – it’s 360-degree footage – so the students can put the headset on and look at exactly what’s happening all around in that yard,” Mikaela said.

Mikaela's team also filmed a VR session to teach students about handling equipment and using PPE and made it interactive and realistic, with vibrations and sounds, to introduce them to agricultural careers and train them safely.

“It’s basically the ag course pre-start – identifying hazards in the workplace, identifying which PPE you need to use, and how to start the equipment such as a lawnmower, hedge trimmer and chainsaw.

“These ones are more interactive, and the best part is when they start the chainsaw, it actually vibrates through the hand pieces and the sound comes through the headset,” Mikaela said.

Mikaela sees the VR applications as useful for introducing students to careers they potentially hadn’t considered or heard of, or in contrast are interested in, at career expos, but also to safely train students ahead of real hazards.

“Eventually I’d love to do sessions where we’re working with 300-head of cattle, because that’s what reality looks like. We are really pushing for this to be integrated into classrooms because it can replicate real-life ag scenarios, when classrooms or field-work can’t - and my colleagues are thinking tractor work spraying, ploughing, that type of stuff,” Mikaela said. 

Think Digital CEO Katherine Bidstrup said the company was proud to collaborate with TAFE Queensland to enhance agricultural education through immersive technology.

"It's been great to work with TAFE Queensland to help support innovative agriculture training in the classroom," said Katherine.

"Working with the subject matter experts like Mikaela means we can develop enriching, engaging virtual experiences for students."

Mikaela believes VR will engage and help students who struggle in the classroom. It’s also a great way to engage this generation of students are very intuitive with technology.

TAFE Queensland educators also use VR headsets at career events to help people understand how VR has the ability to improve the learning experience.

“The team has six of these VR headsets here in Kingaroy and we use them at the careers market and taster programs that TAFE Queensland host. VR has endless training applications if approached creatively, making it a valuable tool for education,” Mikaela said.

TAFE at School Ag students at the Kingaroy campus enjoy the opportunity to engage with virtual reality learning experiences.

Video courtesy of Think Digital.