Transforming AEC Education: A Systematic Review of VR/AR in Mass Timber Curriculum

Abstract

Architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) education requires a radical shift in pedagogical strategies to enhance knowledge retention, critical thinking, practical skills development, and student engagement. The integration of immersive tools such as virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) into AEC curricula has shown enormous potential in enhancing learning outcomes. Despite the increasing popularity of these tools, their adoption for sustainable construction materials and systems such as mass timber building remains underexplored, especially for teaching and facilitating their curricula delivery. This study adopted a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines and a scientometric analysis across key AEC journals. The study synthesizes findings from 69 peer-reviewed articles across three databases. While the findings suggest that VR/AR significantly enhances learning outcomes, key gaps such as lack of standardized evaluation metrics, inadequate faculty training, and a lack of a robust integration framework persist, especially for mass timber and overall sustainability education. This study proposed a foundational framework for VR/AR integration in AEC curricula for mass timbers education and highlighted some pedagogical strategies for bridging the identified gaps. The insights establish the basis for future research that will develop and evaluate a VR-based instructional tool to teach mass timber and sustainable construction education.