Validation in a Real Situation of a Virtual Multimedia Training Environment to Improve Performance and Behavior

Abstract

Despite the scuba diving training classes, many accidents in recreational scuba diving still occur, because of scuba divers that do not follow the safety procedures. Two virtual environments were developed, one for training and another to evaluate the knowledge about safety procedures in scuba diving, and both were validated by: questionnaires about usability and understanding of the interfaces; by experts’ evaluation and by written conventional tests. However there is doubt whether these results reflect a real situation. The purpose of this research is to verify if the Virtual Environment for Training improves the performance and the behavior of scuba divers regarding the performance and behavior during practice in real life. Results showed that in some requisites it did, and in others, the behavior was similar to the ones that had conventional training.