Virtual Training on Remote Piloting: A Mobile Drone Simulator for Empowering Beginning Learners to Practice Visual Line of Sight Operations

In recent years, drones have been regarded as an emerging technology-supported learning tool in K-12 and higher education. Nonetheless, for beginning remote-pilot learners, learning how to fly a drone is challenging. Apart from addressing students’ anxiety about drone crashes, pre-piloting learning facilitation should also lay emphasis on equipping them with necessitated operational knowledge and skills in respect of the local law governing drone-flying. This paper presents the design of an authentic, self-directed mobile drone simulator, namely "VARPLE" (Virtual Aerial Remote-Piloting Learning Environment), for empowering students to practice Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) flying which is the mandatory operational mode of drone-flying in Hong Kong as well as in many other cities and counties. Concluding remarks on further research into the instructional effectiveness and pedagogical affordance of VARPLE, as well as its future possible usages in the process of drone-aimed learning (DAL) will be discussed at the end of this paper.