- 10.00-11.00: trial lecture.
- 12.00-15.00: public defence.
The title of the thesis is "Education for participation in urban planning. Virtual Reality (VR) and teaching strategies to support spatial literacy".
The committee consist of
- first opponent, Senior lecturer Derek Jones, Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics, The Open University
- second opponent, Professor Ingvild Digranes, Department of Arts Education, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
- chair of the committee, Associate Professor Jon Samseth, Faculty of Technology, Art and Design, Oslo Metropolitan University
The leader of the public defence is Vice Dean of Education Finn Aarsæther, Faculty of Education and International Studies, OsloMet.
The main supervisor is Professor Liv Merete Nielsen, Oslo Metropolitan University. The co-supervisors are Professor Eva Lutnæs, Oslo Metropolitan University and Professor Eilif Hjelset, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Summary
The thesis’ purpose is to explore how the use of Virtual Reality (VR) can contribute to educational projects that aim to support spatial literacy.
Firstly, the affordances of VR are explored through a literature review and two studies in lower secondary education and engineering education.
With a backdrop of existing teaching strategies, identified through an interview study with lower secondary school teachers, how and why VR can be implemented in education is discussed. John Dewey’s pragmatist theory on education for democracy serves as the thesis’ theoretical underpinning.
