VR4Health: Personalized teaching and learning anatomy using VR

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) is being integrated into many different areas of our lives, from industrial engineering to video-games, and also including teaching and education. We have several examples where VR has been used to engage students and facilitate their 3D spatial understanding, but can VR help also teachers? What are the benefits teachers can obtain on using VR applications? In this paper we present an application (VR4Health) designed to allow students to directly inspect 3D models of several human organs by using Virtual Reality systems. The application is designed to be used in an HMD device autonomously as a self-learning tool and also reports information to teachers in order that he/she becomes aware of what the students do and can redirect his/her work to the concrete necessities of the student. We evaluate both the students' and the teachers' perception by doing an experiment and asking them to fill-in a questionnaire at the end of the experiment.

The influence of COVID-19 related psychological and demographic variables on the effectiveness of e-learning among health care students in the southern region of Saudi Arabia

“…It widens accessibility to learning opportunities and brings improved motivation and engagement through the new things to be learned. Of course, these new experiences will not be the same as previous ones, but it has been facilitating students’ learning process ( Fairén et al, 2020 ).…”

Our education, our concerns: The impact on medical student education of COVID‐19

“…Of course, these new experiences will not be the same as previous ones, but applications such as (VR4Health, _cublens, Switzerland) have been shown to facilitate students' learning of the various anatomical structures and their relationships with one another. 4 Feedback from teachers is invaluable, but can be achieved with the use of online video communication services in which the teacher can utilise screen-sharing options to walk students through anatomy on any online forum. Some schools already include virtual anatomy in their courses, but current needs must be met by adapting and collaborating as a whole to optimise our medical education broadly.…”

Impact of Virtual Reality on Student Motivation in a High School Science Course

“…Johnston et al [24] claim that VR models involving 3D images allow students to interact with "real" microscopic models, resulting in a significant increase in the understanding of processes. On the other hand, Fairén, Motés and Insa [25] found that the most important added value of using VR in a science course is that students adapt the activity to their academic needs, allowing the equipment to be used as a self-management tool.…”