Virtual Reality in Real Estate Education

In the last years Virtual Reality (VR) techniques such as Oculus Rift have become an alternative teaching tool in the Urban Studies programmes. Having provided 360° imagery and tracking, as well as binaural audio, Oculus Rift facilitates a more immersive experience which would fully engage students in a real world replica of any place and space. The Urban Studies and Planning Department at the University of Sheffield, organizes international field trips that allow students to analyse planning in rapidly changing cities. In recent years, the field trips have been to Istanbul, but rapidly emerging security threats in early 2016 required an urgent review. Module leaders were therefore required to carry out a significant rethink as to how the learning outcomes , centred on developing students’ abilities in urban analysis, could be met through an alternative way than a physical field trip. Therefore virtual reality techniques provided the engagement and analytical framework to ignite students’ critical thinking. The experience of using virtual reality tools in urban planning teaching is very new, and this pioneering approach will be used to further develop teaching in the Department. Since VR techniques can be applied to large range of scales, from city level down to room level, would this innovative way of teaching therefore be transferable in real estate education?