Wood becomes a three-dimensional experience - in the joint project "Alice in Wood-Land", the foundation promotes innovation in university teaching at HNEE

In future, students at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) will experience the structure of the raw material wood in a virtual reality. The realisation of the joint project "Alice in Wood-Land" is funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education.

"Our aim is to use a radical change of perspective to teach students about the anatomical structure of wood in a new way," explains Prof Dr Silke Lautner, project manager and lecturer at HNEE. Until now, the technical input from lectures and seminars has tended to be visualised using traditional microscope examinations. With virtual reality (VR), the dimensional relationships change. "Wood can be experienced in three dimensions. It makes it easier to understand wood structures and what they actually look like," says the scientist. Students who previously found it difficult to visualise tissue structures in 3D will now find it easier to do so. In future, it is planned that several VR glasses will be used in teaching in the Department of Wood Biology. This virtual experience will be supplemented by augmented reality. This means that virtual elements will be added to reality. For example, students will work in teams to fulfil individual tasks in virtual spaces and contribute their specialist knowledge of wood structures.
The data basis for the project is a collection that Prof. Dr Lautner has compiled over the course of her many years of collaboration with the Hereon working group (Helmholtz Centre in Hamburg) at the German Electron Synchrotron (Deutschen Elektronensynchrotron, DESY). Numerous synchrotron radiation-based X-ray microtomographies (SRµCT) of various hardwood and softwood samples are available. They will now become part of the programming for the VR glasses to be used in teaching in the future.

Further information on the project
Project partner: Helmholtz Centre Hereon
Project duration: 12 months

The Foundation for Innovation in University Teaching supports projects for innovative teaching throughout Germany with a total of around 46 million euros as part of the 'Freiraum 2022' funding programme. Teachers can use this funding to develop and test new ideas. The selected projects have impressed with their innovative potential: their approaches go beyond existing teaching and learning settings and try out new things for teaching and studying. The projects were selected by the project selection committee in a competitive, science-led process. The committee consists of experts and students from universities and academia as well as representatives from the federal states and the federal government.

Background: Virtual reality at HNEE
Alice in Wood-Land is the first time VR and AR have been used in the Department of Wood Engineering. Colleagues around Prof Dr Jan-Peter Mund have already been using VR for virtual forest experiences for around three years, including on the IT4forest website.