I'm Brian Myers. I'm Mike Ritalik. I'm Becky Hiddad. And this is Al pellets a podcast featuring tips for ad teachers We are your agricultural education resource across the web sharing research based tips and tackling the tough questions making agriculture teachers every day Hey Al pellets.
This is Brian Becky and Mike and we are here once again by the Al pellet And we are excited today because once again as always we have award-winning World-famous guests that are joining us Brittany Hybal and Ryan Anderson. Thank you so much for being with us here on Al pellets Thanks for having us. Did you notice the pause? Yeah, you're really sure if I'm happy Thinking about the award-winning and world-renowned Quite introduction so we'll start with you.
Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and then Ryan you can follow up and do the same? Sure. Yeah, my name is Brittany Hybal as he said I was born and raised in South Texas a little town called Victoria And I grew up on a small cattle-ranging farm and went to college at Texas State University in San Marcus where I got my undergrad in Agriculture business and management and then because of COVID I decided to stay in school John Market was a little rough Dr. Anderson here was my mentor and he really encouraged me to continue my education through the master's program at Texas State Got my master's degree in integrated ag science and focused a lot on ag mechanics for my research as we're gonna talk about today So now I've since graduating I've actually got an industry job and working with a vocal water technologies now owned by xylem So this has been a really cool experience.
I've been here almost two years now I do miss the ag education sector by getting a look at industry has been really fun. So a little bit about me I'm Ryan Anderson. I'm an assistant professor excuse me. I'm not an associate professor at How you abbreviated So I'm in a state now for just going to year number six and I was able to work with Brittany She was one of my very first graduate students here I went pretty far got to include was that she was also the college my applied arts graduate student over here What she was here to so she is a world Maybe not world renowned I do have some awards We are definitely in the presence of greatness as well as Mike Really tell us a little bit about what we're going to be talking about I understand you we're going about virtual reality Which is going to take a little world and the robots we're going to be our overlords right that we're going to talk about today Absolutely AI all that good stuff No, so um, yeah, my research was focused around virtual reality welding and we wanted to do a literature review of the VR research That was existing out there But we we first looked at the state of the research out there and a lot of the research was looking at you know How to develop the systems as well as how to test them, but we wanted to understand how it played a role as a teaching tool as well So looking at the research really helped understand the gaps that we needed to address when we were framing my thesis So we could talk a little bit about what we found and then a little bit about what we took away from it So we found both research recommendations as well as instructor recommendations for real world use you have anything to add Brian Yeah, I think what really set the stage for this study was that if you really jump onto any of the social media stuff that our agricultural education teachers are involved with use it about once or twice a year you see Some conversations in there where a teacher asks is it worth the money to buy a virtual reality machine?
And why should I even buy one and if you get in there you start reading that the chain of comments It's very bipolar. You'll see something else. I actually worth its weight and gold and then you'll see the other side things that you'll see a teacher say Well, I can do just a good job I can do twice as much as that machine can do and I can buy more machines as opposed to tying up or investing money into this particular World or so so we've seen that from a research side of things We also seen it from a social cue side of things as well Maybe start start there when you talk about you know, I can I can do some I can do these things that VR does right It's worth its weight and gold when it comes to maybe that complimentary nature between VR and teachers What can VR do that teachers maybe can't and what can what teachers still need to invest because I think the thing that comes to mind right away My dad works in robotic milk being consulting which sounds like that has nothing to do with this Well, he talks about like if you He listens to the podcast Shout out He talks about how if you love if you love cows like a robotic milker will make a difference in your On your operation if you just want the works to get done or a lot of milker probably won't get there And I think some of that even thinking about our conversation before if we want a VR welder to just kind of do the teaching for us Probably not gonna make it there But if we really think about the complimentary nature between what VR can do and what teachers can do I think that's just the conversation a little bit just kind of thinking about the things that you found So if you talk a little bit about kind of that complimentary nature between teachers and VR And I will say also just from the perspective of the student so welding can be something that's pretty intimidating to a lot of people Myself included when I was learning how to weld I was so scared. I didn't even want to walk into the lab But you know you're suited up your it's like a hundred degree weather in Texas.
You're going out there There's sparks. There's flames. There's burning metal So a lot of people who maybe don't have a background in agriculture would be even less inclined to get out there and try this This new skill and VR is a great way to kind of expose people to what welding actually is You know breaking it down into the basic concepts of welding You know showing how to set up a machine in a virtual environment really takes away the stressors of being in a welding lab So I think that's a great way to introduce welding But then again like you were saying, you know what gaps can it help teachers fill in their teaching techniques I think that it also shows a much more personalized I guess view of welding so you in the virtual environment can see Your welding angle travel speed at a more Understandable I guess view than you would in the lab where you've got your hood over your head your welding instructors standing behind your back They can't necessarily see how you're holding the gun against the weld piece So I feel like VR kind of offers a more in-depth look at the welding technique and process as you're learning it Inverteacher's perspective. There's five parameters that go behind it good weld and the VR machine can pick up Where those welders are getting off track on the parameters faster than I as a teacher can identify those changes And that can relay the changes back quicker than I can process in my mind verbalize it And on top of that I'm not understanding behind ready yelling at her to slow down get back or slow down get closer Because then you also got a level of anxiety or now you got some Really She said she knows you The yelling acknowledgement like yeah, and not necessarily because you're doing something wrong But when we're in a welding environment is like I don't think we often acknowledge how loud it is in there that to give coaching feedback to somebody While they are while they're welding while they're yelling I have to be yelling for them to hear through my hood and over the equipment over everything else that's going on So even just thinking about the tone in which I'm able to give any feedback Right I can often be absolutely terrified How to weld and she ends up in tears every time because she's not used or she doesn't like me yelling at her I'm like I'm not yelling at you to yell at you.
I'm yelling at you. You can hear me So yeah, I think it goes our piece And the other thing we got to look at too is time is money And when you look at the deficit of welders going into the welders industry and the need to give people up to speak quickly As we looked at Brittany's study we found like we found that we can get welders up to a proficient level And about half the time with VR as opposed to traditional welding training So that cousin if you cut your training time in half That means you get people out on the floor out into the field in half the amount of time And I think that's absolutely critical when we are saying when we're trying to look at the high school teachers Who are training kids to go into the welding industry? How we get them out how we get them out fast? And that's where this guy also comes into play as well I agree and not only looking at the time savings that you're going to see by using this in your training You're also going to see those material savings So you won't be going through as many pieces of metal or electrodes or welding wire as you would if you were only doing live welding training We were going to put a little bit more financial piece behind that and connect back to what Becky asked us a little bit earlier And that is how do we force machines?
Well, the machine that we have is about $55,000 But because we are cutting down our training costs and a consumer cost It will take us about four years to recoup the cost of that machine just off at saving the marginal materials As I think about this and I know you've talked a little bit about the the value Which I can appreciate and also kind of the bipolar response of ag teachers And so you've all done a lot of work in this not only in this study But over the course of your career Ryan And so where's the sweet spot and how would you advise ag teachers to integrate and kind of overlap and both the virtual reality piece as well as the The manual others That's a great question Mike and I've had a lot of conversations with the folks at Lincoln Electric I've also had some conversations with the folks at Wichita State University that have they've got 25 of these VR machines and 100 multi-counsel machines in so in my research which all states done We think it truly is the kind of best companies you spend about 25 percent of your time talking about the theory and the knowledge piece Then spend 25 percent of your time with the VR side of things and then The other 50 percent is in the lab applying what you've learned with with that And so I think that really is that sweet spot and so as I'm looking at my world in class next year One class period is going to be on lecture one class period is going to be going through all the techniques and parameters using VR and practicing in the classroom And then the two hours of laptop will be truly two hours of laptop And hopefully I've even eliminated my demonstrations in the lab because we've demonstrated and we practice in the classroom with the VR But think that's where that sweet spot. The other piece behind us that will become our big takeaway too is when we think about VR machines Teachers start to think about well, this is the same budget line as a wallet And I've got to use that same as I choose one or the other and really VR is very much a computer based technology based Piece of equipment. We have a ton of technology grants out there And some schools have dedicated funds to technology resources You can be pulling those funding sources that you would not normally be able to tap into to pay for that machine at the post who pulling away from where Where you would normally pay for your welding equipment from This idea of the opportunities for VR to change my teaching practice Like it's not replacing me as a teacher But it can really change what I'm able to deliver and how I'm able to to meet students in that career preparation I think that's a piece I don't want to understand when I think when we think about the opportunity even thinking about how you think How you're changing planning for your course based on how VR can actually change your teaching and to develop to develop students for careers Yeah, I think also in addition to that it'd be a great way to help target weaknesses of some of your students who are maybe struggling with a few of the parameters of welding You can send them back into the VR lab or your classroom and go have them work on these parameters using the virtual cues that are often available in virtual reality welding So I think that it definitely is just a supplement not at all going to replace you as a teacher So you're telling tell me that the robots are not going to take over and completely not yet at least So you're telling me there's a chance Now this has been a fantastic conversation and I hope I hope everyone sees the the opportunities we have there and I really appreciate the conversation The comments Ryan you and Becky just had there about the idea. This is a supplement and really thinking about how we're building this into our program as teachers It's not replacing us.
It's not saying hey, I'm gonna buy one of these machines. I don't want to teach well anymore I'm just gonna go have no that's not it at all But also not gonna work great if you just tap it on top right here's what I've been doing here's how I've been doing this Let me just put this up well, yeah, no I'm not gonna help as much really being intentional about that curriculum design Um and that teaching well, you know, a whole lot more than just turning people loose and let's go burn some rods You know that really being that intentional and using that as a real set tool here So as we kind of wrap up this conversation as you think about What's your advice to teachers who are beginning this conversation to see you mentioned a little bit about Integering this into their curriculum What's kind of that decision making process because you've kind of said maybe the art's not right for everybody But there's right for the right ones. How should how would you coach a teacher through that through that conversation decision-making process about how and when to engage in this That's a great question too, Brian. Uh, well, I would do just know if you're for a second Ryan So Mike has had a great question.
I have had a great question. I don't believe Becky's had a great question yet Okay, that's only to clarify that Mike actually had a great question Which I think I would rather not have a great question than have an actually great question So Becky's got the great responses over the great questions All right, go ahead Ryan go ahead Okay, there's another one I did not make a first old joke today So my Is pretty straightforward reach out to your regional rep from Lincoln Electric or from Miller or one of your water suppliers And see if they will bring in a demo unit let you borrow a demo unit for a week or two weeks And so I know that our regional rep here She's more than happy to bring in their machine and they'll drop it off and they'll leave it with us for as long as she is allowed to leave it with us And so Brain in demonstrated even our reps will be willing to teach it one or two other quest periods that kind of help me integrate that into Into their stuff. And so I think the greatest way right now is just reach out have a rep come in bring the machine in and Examine with it and see how it fits and they just want to sell one of the machines for administration bring them in When Bernie was here we brought in several people from industry where people in from the community We brought people from the upper administration at this university that machine sold itself almost every time and then when the machine Self-in selling bringing still the deal as she sold it so So let them in because the major Administration can see that how the visual effects are and the feedback they're getting that immersive technology and that experiential learning piece really ties That not on the why we should pay for this one of the one of the key features that a lot of our administrators and university leaders really liked was the level of engagement It brought with the students So on many occasions we had you know, weld offs or competitions where it was almost like a video game situation and these students were competing against each other to see Who could score the highest on their weld and it was really fun to see them get excited about it And then because of that level of excitement the leaders and other teachers in the area Saw that wanted to to actually compound upon it And so they were buying into this as well and then as dr Anderson mentioned earlier, you know, there's a level of grants out there that can be used to get this in not only technology and STEM grants But even you know green or emissions reducing grants out there for the schools that do that well, Brittany Ryan This has been a great conversation. It's really an exciting way to bring in virtual reality into the classroom and really help us Find ways to teach these skills We've had a lot of conversations around the variety of skills that that teachers need to have and and not everyone's going to be an expert And all these sort of things but this is definitely a tool that if implemented intentionally and correctly could definitely enhance What's been happening and build up the Ag mechanics curriculum within within an agate program So thank you both for being with us here today on alpellates We hope you and others will engage on social media about this topic and share your own experiences about using virtual reality Welding other virtual reality in your classrooms.
Absolutely. Thanks for having us. Thank you Hope you've enjoyed this episode of alpellates check out our website for more information on this topic and to learn more about our guests Follow us on facebook twitter and instagrams they connected and be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never miss an episode For Mike and Becky. This is brian here by the alpellates saying thank you and we look forward to seeing you again on another episode of alpellates tips for agteachers