Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) – sometimes called Mixed Reality (MR) are becoming viable technologies for medical schools to begin using in the Med Ed curriculum.
UCF COM’s Educational Technology department is approaching these new technologies in 3 ways.
1st: Paying attention to high fidelity apps that are being developed for the VR and MR platforms that can be acquired and utilized to enhance current instructional activities.
2nd: Sponsoring UCF Computer Science senior design (CSSD) student projects to provide them with real-world, hands-on programming experience. Please visit UCF’s CSSD page (http://www.eecs.ucf.edu/cssd/) for more information.
3rd: Partnering with other institutions with similar resources to collaborate in the development of high-fidelity VR apps that meet high-yield instructional Med Ed needs to be shared with other medical schools.
Currently, UCF COM has two VR applications in development, our updated cARdiac™ application that allows students to explore various concepts related to the human heart and a virtual escape room for students to practice and apply their knowledge of high-yield hematology and oncology concepts. The first version of our cARdiac™ Disorders application for HoloLens 1 can be downloaded from the following website: https://ucf.flintbox.com/technologies/8ce1eb35-cc46-4dd1-9b21-0dbbdb8c5eff
Our core development team includes an instructional designer, medical illustrator, 3D modeler, and UCF Computer Science senior design students to assist with the programming. We are continuously exploring and expanding our knowledge of AR and VR technologies and have expanded our library of applications for Microsoft’s HoloLens and Meta Quest VR headsets.
UCF is currently looking for other medical institutions interested in partnering to develop virtual reality medical applications. If interested, please contact Dale Voorhees at dale.voorhees@ucf.edu.