Pedro Acevedo has just completed his doctorate with 麻豆精品under the supervision of computer graphics technology professor Christos Mousas. Even before he completed his program, Acevedo’s work in the field of immersive virtual reality led him to a tenure-track role at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Acevedo will have the opportunity to further pursue his research in immersive VR, and how it might be applied in novel educational contexts, as an assistant professor in UNC Wilmington’s Department of Computer Science. When he interviewed for the role, it also became clear that the campus setting is a nice bonus. “It’s near the coast, and the weather is really nice. I really liked the place,” Acevedo said.
Acevedo has spent the last four years evaluating the areas in which VR can add real instructional value. Most of those areas involve instructional disciplines where VR can provide unparalleled capacity for detailed visualization of hard-to-grasp physical structures and concepts.
“A lot of research focuses on using VR because it’s new, and it has some exciting features,” Acevedo said. “But if you’re focused on developing an effective learning experience, you need to really understand your use-case so you can justify the use of VR from the start.”
In his dissertation, Acevedo’s primary example is how instructors could teach about the interactions of charged particles and the representation of electric fields. Because these forces are invisible to the human eye, they offer a compelling use case for immersive simulation.
“This is a curriculum where the learning content can benefit from 3D visualization, because you’re dealing with something that’s hard to replicate in real life. You can’t actually see any such particles, at least directly through your vision. So my dissertation started with the hypothesis that VR might be a good alternative teaching method because then we can simulate these particles through a visual and interactive experience.”
Acevedo was aware that validating this hypothesis went beyond solely the technical development of the charged particle model. Educational theory and user experience evaluation were necessary to determine whether or not students indeed learn better using immersive VR rather than through traditional screen learning.
Acevedo designed the particle simulation in the Unity engine himself, drawing on his background in software engineering. But he then worked with educational technology researchers at Purdue, including Professors Bedrich Benes and Alejandra Magana, and her former mentees Yoselyn Walsh Zuniga and Hector Will, to ensure that his learning modules aligned with clear instructional goals.
“We defined the learning objectives first,” Acevedo said. “We mapped out what we wanted students to grasp, and how the VR model could best try to guide them through that process.”
To test the effectiveness of his modules, Acevedo used a mix of traditional surveys and in-headset performance tracking. “We captured in-game data—what people looked at, how much time they spent on certain tasks, what buttons they clicked through the controllers. That gave us insight into how they interacted with the content,” he said. He also conducted interviews with participants to better understand their perceptions and experiences.
While the target audience for his simulations was initially first-year engineering students—who often revisit foundational concepts like electromagnetism—his participant pool ended up including people from more varied backgrounds. “Most of them didn’t remember anything about charged particles,” he said. “So it became a good tool for both refreshing prior knowledge and introducing new concepts.”
In addition to his own research contributions, Acevedo also reflected on the field more broadly. A recent literature review helped him identify what’s missing from many educational VR applications.
“There are things that aren’t necessarily useful to do in VR. Like, you don’t want to provide too much text or reading content,” Acevedo noted.
“The headset puts more layers in front of your eyes, so any kind of ‘small content’ like that gets harder to read. If you’re dealing with content that is best displayed purely as text, or in static 3D, then I’d rather keep that content where it is because you can just learn it on a desktop computer.”
Instead, he encourages designs that highlight VR’s interactive and spatial strengths—things like gesture-based control, creating assessments embedded inside the virtual world, and using visual cues that help users engage more intuitively with the content.
Acevedo’s interest in interactive technology stretches back to his undergraduate days at Universidad del Norte in Colombia, where he completed both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. “I like games,” he said. “Not just playing them—I want to understand how they work. So this has been an opportunity to basically make them myself.”
Once Acevedo started his PhD at Purdue, he pivoted toward graphics, VR, and educational simulations. He credits one of his collaborators in Colombia (Dr. Camilo Vieira), who had studied at Purdue and recommended the program, for encouraging the shift.
“I got to Purdue because my collaborator knew a professor here, and they had a project with Dr. Mousas,” he said. “They recommended me, and I got the opportunity to interview and join the program.”
Now, as he prepares to take on his new role at UNC Wilmington, Acevedo is thinking ahead to his responsibilities as both a teacher and a researcher. “[UNC Wilmington] is trying to grow their research presence, and I want to help with that.”
Acevedo will be teaching two courses per semester and plans to continue his research with both undergraduate and graduate students.
“Working with grad students during my time at Purdue has helped me prepare. It’s a nice opportunity to keep growing.”
And while he’s focused on his academic future, he hasn’t forgotten the spark that got him started in this field.
“I’m still focused on creating things that are interactive and that people enjoy using,” he said. “I like working in VR because it’s really engaging and important, and now I’m able to take the work that I enjoy doing and turn it into a learning experience.”