Exploring Professional Vision: Analyzing Variances in Professionals’ and Novices’ Perceptions and Decision-Making within a Mixed Reality Learning Environment for Construction Education

The construction industry is undergoing a significant transformation as the workforce shifts from traditional practices to sensing technology-driven approaches, thereby creating a critical skills gap. Mixed reality learning environments (MRLE) have emerged as a promising solution to prepare the future workforce by providing immersive and experiential learning experiences with sensing technologies. While studies have explored how MRLEs can afford students with the requisite technical skills, there is a lack of understanding of the professional expertise relating to sensing technologies. Specifically, it remains unclear how experts convey and apply professional practices to implement sensing technologies on construction sites and how these processes differ from novices’ approaches. Rooted in the theory of professional vision, this study examined the interactions of construction professionals and novices (students) by identifying the visual strategies employed by experts to facilitate meaning-making based on their knowledge and experience. Further, this study draws upon insights from the cognitive theory of visual expertise, which elucidates how skilled interpretation and information processing evolve with expertise in MRLEs. The study recruited 17 undergraduate students and 17 professionals, immersing them in MRLE, and tasked with implementing drones for site inspection. Through quantitative analysis from surveys and interaction patterns from eye-tracking data, the study sheds light on learners’ engagement and information processing within MRLEs. Findings revealed that professionals experienced lower cognitive load, demonstrated higher situational awareness, and employed more deliberate and structured visual strategies starting with instruction, followed by powering on the drone, to controller panel, etc., as compared to students. This study contributes to the theory of professional vision by delineating how cognition and decision-making vary between experts and learners, thereby informing the necessary competencies needed to develop the future workforce. Ultimately, this research contributes to the ongoing discourse on the role of immersive technologies in education and their influence on professional development.