There is a looming shortage of well-trained professionals in the wood construction workforce. To challenge this shortage, we developed a simulated learning environment that leverages a novel Virtual Reality (VR) system to train novice workers in wooden wall construction. A comprehensive task analysis was first used to best identify training requirements. Then, a virtual building site was modeled and a 3D video tutorial was implemented using a VR Head-Mounted Display (HMD). To evaluate the effectiveness of this tool, participants who learned via the VR training tool were compared with participants who instead only had simple 2-D instructional video training. VR training resulted in better retention, task performance, learning speed, and engagement than the video training counterpart, maintaining system usability. This demonstrates that VR is a viable training tool for the construction sector and can produce benefits beyond those of traditional video training.

木材建筑工人队伍中缺乏训练有素的专业人员。为了应对这种短缺，我们开发了一个模拟学习环境，该环境利用了新颖的虚拟现实（VR）系统来培训新手木墙施工。首先使用全面的任务分析来最好地确定培训需求。然后，对虚拟建筑场地进行建模，并使用VR头戴式显示器（HMD）实施3D视频教程。为了评估该工具的有效性，将通过VR培训工具学习的参与者与仅接受了简单2D指导视频培训的参与者进行了比较。与视频培训同行相比，VR培训带来了更好的保留，任务性能，学习速度和参与度，从而保持了系统可用性。