PhD Proposal Defense – Steven Kangisser 

College of Design – School of Building Construction – PhD Proposal Defense – Steven Kangisser

Title: Abstraction, Presence, and Transfer; A Framework for Visualization Design in Digital Demonstrators for Equipment-Intensive STEM Education

Dissertation advisory committee:

· Dr. Javier Irizarry, School of Building Construction, Georgia Institute of Technology

· Dr. Eunhwa Yang, School of Building Construction, Georgia Institute of Technology

· Senior Lecturer Tim Purdy, School of Industrial Design, Georgia Institute of Technology

· Dr. Maribeth Gandy Coleman, Institute of People and Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology

· Dr. Jamie Gorman, Human Systems Engineering, Arizona State University

Date and Time: Wednesday, April 22, 2:30-4:00 PM EST

Location: Cadell Building, Conference Room, Floor 2, 280 Ferst Dr., Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30030

Virtual: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/221081871285606?p=OCp7eQsZV1ozOHW5la

Abstract: Construction management programs face a persistent instructional challenge: students must develop competency with complex, expensive instruments that most programs cannot procure. Digital demonstrators have been proposed as viable alternatives, yet the field lacks empirical guidance on how to design the visualizations embedded within them. This dissertation addresses that gap using laser scanning instruction as its primary case. The dissertation is designed to contribute an empirical comparison of distinct visualization approaches in an instrument-level digital demonstrator using a behavioral transfer measure.

The study is organized around three research questions corresponding to three identified gaps in literature. RQ1 examines how visualization design within a screen-based digital demonstrator affects the risk of visualization dependency. RQ2 investigates how the extent of demonstrator exposure influences physical scanner skill transfer, as measured by setup time. RQ3 asks what instructional outcomes a full-scale immersive VR demonstrator produces relative to the screen-based tool, and whether VR presence supports deeper schema formation or amplifies scaffold dependency.

Two theoretical frameworks govern the study. Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) provides the primary lens, framing dependency risk as a consequence of over-scaffolding that bypasses the germane processing required for durable schema formation. The Cognitive Affective Model of Immersive Learning (CAMIL) governs the VR strand, positioning presence and agency as mediators of immersive learning benefits while acknowledging that immersive novelty may also increase extraneous load.

The study employs mixed methods, pragmatist design across seven sequential phases. A screen-based demonstrator was developed incorporating two visualization conditions. The first being a lower-fidelity abstract circle grid that required active conceptual inference. The second is a higher-fidelity apple point cloud designed to make the resolution-quality relationship perceptually explicit. Physical scanner setup time served as the primary behavioral outcome, chosen for its independence from self-report and its sensitivity to dependency effects.

RQ2 is supported by the strongest evidence. Graduate teams with full demonstrator access completed physical scanner setup much more quickly as compared to a more limited-access cohort. This dose-response pattern was independently replicated in an undergraduate cohort at Georgia Tech, substantially strengthening the evidentiary basis. RQ1 is supported by preliminary evidence in which all five teams trained on the higher-fidelity visualization exhibited dependency when transitioning to the physical scanner. That finding requires replication before it can be treated as confirmed. RQ3 remains unresolved pending the next phase of this research which will introduce a VR visualization, testing emersion and presence as a level of visualization. This VR visualization will intentionally have a lower level of photorealism as compared to either of the 2-dimensional prototypes.

Completed phases have yielded five confirmed or provisionally confirmed screen-based design criteria and three provisional VR criteria, constituting an empirically grounded framework for visualization design in digital demonstrators for instrument-intensive STEM education.