Virtual or Augmented Reality : Which technology should you invest in for your next medical education challenge?

Growing number of learners at medical schools and teaching hospitals are training through computer-generated simulations thanks to VR and its cousin, augmented reality (AR). These sophisticated tools allow learners to plunge safely into life-or-death scenarios, peel away layers of human anatomy, walk through a virtual heart, and more. As technologies from the gaming industry improve and costs decline, leaders in academic medicine are increasingly exploring the place of such simulations in medical education.

Early adopters note the varied benefits of AR and VR, including the opportunity for real-life experiences without real-life consequences.

Let us start by explaining what each one actually means

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is an entirely computer-generated view of a world — that is, purely virtual. Everything the user sees is manufactured but as close to experiencing it in real life as you can get.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality, by contrast, superimposes computer-generated images and sounds onto the real world. In medicine, this includes simulated internal organs overlaid on a real manikin.
It bridges the gap between role-playing and high-fidelity simulation.”

Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality:

AR vs VR

Click here to read the articles about Virtual reality in medical education.

https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/future-or-fad-virtual-reality-medical-education

Who are the Early adopters of these technologies and what areas have they identified for these technologies?

  • Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA): Handling emergency situations

  • Stanford University School of Medicine: Use of VR for training in its Neurosurgical Simulation and Virtual Reality Center. There, a platform called Surgical Theater fuses several types of brain scans from a real patient to achieve greater specificity and verisimilitude.
  • Mayo Clinic: Instructors use AR for various purposes at Multidisciplinary Simulation Center, to teach students how to interpret ultrasound imaging. As students look at a standard ultrasound view, AR adds images of underlying tissues, bone structures, blood vessels, muscles, and nerves for a deeper understanding of the ultrasound visualization.
  • UC Irvine School of Medicine: Faculty recently launched an AR pilot project for fourth-year students and emergency medicine residents. There, a computer app superimposes a hologram of a patient over a manikin to produce a much more lifelike and responsive simulation

What the early adopters are saying about their experience using these technologies?

“The beauty of this is really that you can appreciate in three dimensions what the structures look like.”
Gary Steinberg, MD, PhD
Stanford Medical School

“You don’t get that feeling of adrenaline through a written test,” says White. “You get it through experiencing it, and I think this is as close to experiencing it in real life as you can get.”
Todd Chang, MD, MAcM,
Director of research and scholarship at CHLA

“Wearing my technologist hat, this is an incredibly exciting time. … But my physician side is a little more cautious in thinking that we shouldn’t jump headfirst into every new technology that comes out.”
Warren Wiechmann, MD
Associate Dean of Clinical Science Education and Educational Technology
University of California Irvine School of Medicine

So who is winning the race VR or AR?

Let us start by saying that this is definitely not a race but an opportunity in our future that needs to be taken seriously by all the stakeholders involved, including the learners and patients.
As prices fall, the capabilities of the technology grow, and developers create new teaching modules, a trend toward greater use of virtual and augmented reality in teaching and training seems almost guaranteed.

References:

https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/future-or-fad-virtual-reality-medical-education

Online education: What you should be knowing if you are thinking of pivoting to online learning?


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Online education: What you should be knowing if you are thinking of pivoting to online learning?

This is the best time clinical educators can try their hands with exploring ways to start teaching online.

There is a plethora of new tools and technologies available out there and for someone who is just starting to get a grip on online teaching, it might seem intimidating at the best.

We bring you some simple tips and information you can find handy as you begin your journey. But before you begin, here are a couple of things you should keep in mind:

1- What is your aim and what are the learning objectives and assessment tasks you would like your participants to pick up at the end of your course?

2- Technology is just an enabler and should be selected based on your objectives and comfort level.

With this, let us dive into the different types of engagement tools available out there, to name a few:

  • Blogs
  • Discussion Forums
  • Online & Self assessment
  • Podcasts and Videos
  • Online Grade books
  • Web-conferencing
  • Learning Management Systems
  • Assignment Dropbox
  • Wikis

The next question is how do you select which tools would fit in best with your learning objectives?

Some factors to keep in mind that can help you make the right choice

  • Students: Is the technology appropriate for students? Is it easily accessible for them?
  • Ease of use: Is the technology easy to use for the students?
  • Costs: Will you or your students need to pay for accessing the technology?
  • Interactivity: Does the technology support interactivity between students?
  • Novelty: Will the technology provide a new learning experience for the users? Are you prepared if there are technical difficulties?

Once you are clear and ready here are some examples of the technologies that are available:

  • Discussion Forums – Via your LMS : easy to setup and track if students are participating or not
  • Twitter with hashtags – Easy to follow and learn from thought leaders and influencers provided you know how to use it
  • Facebook – Facebook groups can be set up for communication. There might be privacy issues.
  • Synchronous Webinars- Zoom, Skype, Adobe Connect.
  • Video recordings/ streaming: e.g. Pantopto, Zoom, Youtube
  • Open educational resources or Creative Commons licensed resources

This brings us to the next important consideration in the world of online teaching and that is: licensing.

There are 3 types of licensing

  1. Copyright (all rights reserved)
  2. Creative Commons (some rights reserved)
  3. Public domain (no rights reserved)

Please check the type of license by checking on the resource’s website for its terms of use. When in doubt, it is best to link back to the resource

To summarize,

Pivoting to online teaching should be careful consideration and it can bring immense benefits to you and the students if done correctly. It is important to know your learning and assessment objectives before you select the right type of technology. Using the right type of technology, license and resources can go a long way in making your online teaching successful.

You can check out the edX course on pivoting to online teaching
Please drop us a line at info@bodhihealthedu.org and we would be happy to assist you to get started with your first online course!

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