Instruction in higher education institutions continues to proceed along the traditional path. Exposure to real-life experiences relevant to the discipline of study could greatly enhance students’ understanding of how their study relates to the real world. This is particularly important for engineering students where the focus is on finding practical solutions to real-life problems. Offering such experiences, however, is restricted by many limiting factors. Recent technological advancements in the fields of simulation and virtual/augmented reality present a viable solution to offer semi-real experiences that avoid many of the limiting factors. An important consideration for this approach is that students won’t have to physically leave campus to gain the intended experience. 

In this presentation, authors present the applications of the virtual reality as a teaching medium for providing students with realistic experiences in relation to manufacturing processes. This presentation is also intended to demonstrate how:

• Complex systems utilizing simulation tools that support virtual reality and allow the students to walk through and interact with the virtual surroundings could be developed.

• Students could utilize the virtual environment to further improve real systems.

• Students could create and experiment with their own models and to optimize their proposed systems output by 3D virtual systems.