Bringing XR to the Classroom

by Susan Neale

A new 3-year, $1.5 million grant from the American Nurses Foundation’s Reimagining Nursing Initiative will support a bold new project at the College of Nursing to design, test and integrate extended reality (XR) across the curriculum for prelicensure students. It’s truly the wave of the future in nursing education, and it’s happening here.

This teaching innovation will not replace clinical learning hours, which are critical to a student nurse’s learning process. Rather, it will augment clinical experience with extra simulated patient experiences. Just as pilots practice scenarios in flight simulators, now nursing students can build skills in a safe, virtual space. The virtual world offers something the real world often does not: an opportunity for remediation of mistakes. Students can play a scenario over and over again, fine-tuning their responses and learning best practices. As the grant proposal, “Disrupting Nursing Education with XR, AI and ML,” puts it, “Extended reality can provide tailored support based on each student’s needs. The artificial intelligence/machine-learning (AI/ML) tool can address critical points in patient care when decisive nurse interventions make life-or-death differences.”

The College of Nursing partnered with the College of Engineering to incorporate their artificial intelligence/machine-learning (AI/ML) tool into this project. The dream team of curriculum developers, nurse innovators, simulation specialists and tech experts needed to craft XR tactics comes mostly from our own faculty and staff.

The team includes Wendy Bowles, PhD, APRN-CNP, CNE, Co-PI, undergraduate and graduate prelicensure curriculum specialist and evaluator; Michael Ackerman, DNS, RN, FCCM, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, Co-PI, technology expert and director of the Immersive Technology Lab; and Amy Jauch, DNP, RN, CNE, Co-PI, undergraduate and graduate prelicensure curriculum specialist and evaluator. Simulation specialists Stephanie Justice, DNP, RN, CHSE, and Kelly Casler, DNP, APRN-CNP, CHSE, will provide simulation development and oversight. Other experts from the colleges of Nursing, Medicine and Engineering are on board to steer this project to success.

What can we expect to see in a nursing classroom at Ohio State in ten years?

“With the speed of technology, in ten years I believe nursing students will have individualized education targeted to meet their specific learning needs. Difficult concepts presented in the classroom can be reinforced in the metaverse/virtual worlds, tailored to each student. Simulation will not be a once or twice a semester occurrence but offered throughout the curriculum with virtual simulations being an integral part of their education. We cannot replace in-person clinical experiences, but we can create multiple virtual learning opportunities for each student with the end goal of improving patient outcomes.”

– Stephanie Justice, DNP, RN, CHSE