Economic and environmental sustainability, together with flexibility in education, are the main driving forces for integrating virtual reality laboratories into welding education. A multidisciplinary team consisting of welding educators and immersive computing researchers developed a virtual reality laboratory focused on teaching welding processes and welding metallurgy. Fifty students in manufacturing engineering used the virtual laboratory in seven courses offered over 18 months, and 20 educators attended informative and training sessions. The virtual reality laboratory was continuously improved based on the feedback received from students and educators during that period, and the main goal in this work was to assess the eventual benefits of the virtual reality laboratory as an educational tool versus the real campus laboratories. In terms of effectiveness, 74% of the students considered the virtual reality laboratory to be an effective learning tool.

However, when the students were asked if physical laboratories should be replaced by virtual ones, most wanted to continue with physical laboratories, seeing the virtual laboratory as a complementary tool offering additional learning opportunities. Interestingly, despite educators unanimously agreeing on the benefits of the tool, resistance to implementing the tool in their courses was observed.

The integration of virtual reality (VR) laboratories into welding education presents an array of potential advantages. It can be used at campus or in distance, and it offers an alternative when access to traditional laboratories is challenging. The economic benefits, including savings on material preparation and energy costs, along with the environmental, health and safety advantages of mitigating exposure to welding fumes, arc radiation, and electrical hazards, add further value and contribute to sustainability in welding education. The work presented here is an example of the integration of education in the areas of welding and informatics and research on immersive learning. A multidisciplinary team worked on the development of an immersive learning environment, including virtual laboratory areas for welding processes as well as for microstructural inspection of welds.

During the project, this learning environment, and the contained virtual laboratories, have been implemented by the researchers with the support from IT students, and tested, and improved with the feedback provided by students in welding technology, materials science, and manufacturing courses. Overall, more than twenty students from Informatics have been involved throughout the project, resulting in five bachelor theses, three master theses, three course projects in Immersive computing, and two course projects focusing on web development. The involvement of IT students has not only supported the development of the virtual learning environment, but it has also created new avenues for future research and developments in immersive computing.

As cities continue to grow, the desire to combine densification with sustainability and greenery may present a challenge to air quality, resulting from reduced ventilation caused by dense buildings and vegetation. To support the careful urban planning required, effective and interactive tools that can visualize and communicate information about air quality to stakeholders are essential. In a transdisciplinary research project aiming to explore such visualizations a prototype pedagogical virtual reality tool was developed, allowing users to explore the impact of aspects of the built environment upon urban air quality. The tool was evaluated with adolescents in upper secondary school through interviews and observations, as well as with the general public through a questionnaire study. This paper provides insights, potential solutions, and initial assessments relevant to data visualization in 3D and immersive analytics in urban planning and stakeholder communication. Identified challenges include difficulties with color association and data distinguishability, and as well as tool complexity relating to the many features requested by experts involved in a transdisciplinary project.