Using Augmented Reality to Advance Medical Education

Instructors and students in the medial field have unique challenges when it comes to teaching and learning. While both medical school and professional development both require intensive reading from textbooks and journals, or dissection of cadavers, these ways of learning feel disconnected from the human element, are not holistic, and in the case of the use of cadavers, can very expensive. Per a review in the September 2014 issue of the journal Perspectives in Medical Education, current instructional best practices recommend "whole-task training" as the most effective method of meaningful learning, and augmented reality provides the perfect tools to achieve this.

For example, from the aforementioned review comes the story of several innovative ways that the education of anatomy is being enhanced through augmented reality. The Miracle Mirror System (PDF) gives users a virtual look at their own internal anatomy. The system uses the Microsoft Kinect technology to display real-time video of the user on a screen and track his or her movements, then displays 3D graphics of internal anatomical features onto the user's own image. The user can interact with the images and view text about the anatomy. Not only could this technology provide a new avenue for anatomy education, it also could be used for patient education and educating the general public in a new and engaging way.

Augmented reality has also been used to view lung function and interaction in 3D, and to train surgeons on laparoscopic surgical techniques. The field of medicine appears ripe with opportunity to integrate augmented reality.

Photo by Dr.Farouk from Flickr under Creative Commons.

Living Maps in Alaska

Maps can be a teaching tool, as well as a way to inform communities about the landscape they live on. But flat, 2-D maps also aren't a highly engaging tool in and of themselves for the general public. What if you could control and change the map with just the swipe of your hand? A project at the University of Alaska is using geological data visualization technology developed at UC-Davis to create an augmented reality map that can educate and bring a community together.

By projecting an interactive map over a sandbox, this new tool allows people to engage with the map by getting their hands dirty, literally. If a user pushes sand into a mound, the projected map registers the mound of sand as a mountain, and accordingly changes its graphics to reflect the change in landscape. One project using the augmented reality map is using it to look at and document how the changing environment and landscape can impact the community living within it. 

Learn more about the augmented reality sandbox at the University of Alaska.

Photo by davecito from Flickr under Creative Commons.

Seeing Climate Change Up Close and Personal: A Better Way to Educate?

Educating large groups of people about complicated scientific issues - not an easy task. Climate change has proven to be one of the most challenging communication and education issues, and not just because of the political tug-of-war over the issue. How do you get people to invest time into learning about climate change, and take action, when a the concept and the call to save the planet can be so overwhelming?

Smithsonian.com looks at how augmented reality can measurably change a person's behavior after they experience the effects of environmental destruction through augmented reality or virtual reality. The way they experience this matters. If people feel a real sense of control over their actions, they are more likely to take action or change a specific behavior. For example, in an MIT augmented reality app, users are given the opportunity to see and experience the environmental impacts of policies, by "implementing" a policy, or "removing" a policy. In their augmented reality, they view the future effects of these policies immediately.

Of course, there are concerns that bias can creep into the way augmented reality experiences are designed, and many may argue that getting out in nature and appreciating the environment in actual reality is more appropriate. But for those that need to see the effects of climate change from a different perspective, augmented reality could provide a solution.

Read more about the many ways augmented reality is addressing the climate change education and communication challenge.

Photo by Nattu on Flickr under Creative Commons