As a learning technologist there is the constant need and skill to keep abreast of new technologies, and adapting to present but unfamiliar technologies within our digital ecosystem. The latter is what motivated me to share my journey with a piece of Virtual Reality (VR) technology; the approach I have took to develop it's purposeful pedagogical application and and where I am heading with it. Immersive learning and VR is an exciting and developing specialism in my role, and is new in the department, of which I get to lead and shape.
I am the lead learning technologist in the Institute of Health and Allied Professions (IHAP) and am responsible for leading and facilitating digital learning and teaching developments. Of which includes supporting the integration of digital technologies into our digital curriculum, such as Igloo Vision, PebblePad and H5P, to name a few.
Our VR walls
I'm very proud to be working in this institute, and especially in our highly technology-enabled building and immersive facilities. View full information about our 'Health & Allied Professions Centre', which includes purpose-built facilities; immersive VR walls, wards, consultation rooms, apartment. View this web page about 'Hiring the Health and Allied Professions Centre'.Our VR immersive walls are supplied and installed by Igloo Vision. A company that provides the hardware; wrap-around vision and sound, and a number of software applications to recreate immersive and realistic virtual reality 360° viewing and simulation, role play and scenario-based learning experiences. The VR walls have quickly become a core technology in our healthcare digital curriculum, and one that can be applied across multiple subjects. Below are extracts that describe the kit's intentions. Whilst the suites are named VR rooms, that is a bit of a misnomer as they are actually immersive learning spaces.
NTU, Health and Allied Professions Centre - "A virtual reality room enables lecturers to create a wide range of health care situations for students to practice their skills for their professional role, such as a motorway crash scene, school playing field or train station. This engaging space allows students to practice what they could be faced with in the roles that they go into during placements and throughout their career following graduation."
Professor Sara Owen, Executive Dean of the School of Social Sciences - "Simulations and virtual reality are providing huge opportunities in healthcare education and we are proud of the technological advances and facilities on offer in this building. They will enable us to make these creative and innovative approaches an integral part of our education and give our students the best possible experience."
At a basic everyday application level, academics can use 360° videos to design immersive simulations, scenarios and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)s. A great opportunity to develop critical thinking and decision-making skills, not just to be assessed. Academics can bring a situation to life (sight, sound and perhaps smells) to emphasise the immersive aspect, as well as props like in the image below and footage to support practicals. There are other types of content called Unity scenes, which offer a game-based format. Not typical point/achievement-based, but allowing users to explore an environment such as a ward for example and interact with related objects. There are more advanced features, such as live streaming, annotating, displaying external websites and much more. Live streaming and recording is particularly useful, especially through our lecture capture system (Panopto). Where perhaps students can be placed in groups, observe/critique a practical from another classroom and speak via microphone, then swap around to take turns. Or perhaps students can engage remotely if they are unable to attend in-person.
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| Taken from the Health and Allied Professions Centre opening event on 25th May 2022. |
- Managing, supporting and developing the end user experience and content of our Igloo Vision set ups across two campuses; Clifton and Mansfield
- Establishing, developing and facilitating VR and immersive learning pedagogy
- Training (end user) to enable a positive relationship with the kit in a scaffolded approach
- Creating, preparing, converting and managing 360° content for immersive wall application
Whilst I am familiar with broad pedagogical application of VR and creation of static 360° virtual tours. I define myself quite the novice in using and supporting such high-end kit. In fact, VR, Extended Reality (XR) and Augmented Reality (AR) type digital learning, within an in-person and healthcare context is very much new to me. However, as a learning technologist, I am digitally confident and competent in exploring possibilities and developing purposeful application. I am establishing and developing expertise in VR/immersive learning. I am learning more deeply about VR on-the-job, especially in the context and subject specialism of nursing and paramedicine. I feel that me being a learner to the kit alongside the academics has been a major factor to its adoption success. As I am going through the same intended processes as them - which is the purpose of a learning technologist, to mediate the interplay between pedagogy and technology.
Approach
My uppermost goal is to enthuse, enable and get staff comfortable with the kit for frequent use, not just to use for open events for a wow factor. But to improve learning and teaching experiences within this context and subject specialism. So if I achieve this, I will be extremely pleased with that. My immediate goal for the remainder of this academic year is to get all staff (where relevant) introduced before the next academic year, so that everyone is comfortable and prepared for planning simulations for the upcoming year. Whilst some paramedicine academics have experience the kit, the majority of staff are new to this equipment and this type of digital learning, much scaffolding needs to be considered. Integrating this technology into the curriculum subjects and continuous support is key to its success.
The Mansfield campus kit that is shared with a ward had been set up (and in use) ahead of my arrival (August 2021). However, our new Health and Allied Professions Centre was having it's own dedicated VR room at the Clifton campus. Ahead of this, in November 2021, I independently led its set up and integration. As I got acquainted with the Clifton kit, I had the initial overarching plan below, which evolved as I learned more about the kit's potential.
- Purposeful adoption (possibilities thinking)
- Induct all staff at a basic introductory level; everyday use of 360° content (the getting started guide I produced)
- Scale up application by interacting with on-screen content (layouts and internet media)
- Second and final Unity scene development (fulfilment of contract)
- I coordinated with my line manager Andrew Kirke, Principal Lecturer in paramedicine, to learn and acquire current practice from his experience as an early adopter of Igloo Vision. Long-term, we will collaborate to define and refine the pedagogy
- Booked out both campus VR rooms for solo purposeful play time to develop my understanding and use of the kit
- Identifying related conferences and practical resources to support myself
- Collated academic material for literature review of simulations and VR in healthcare to support my understanding and contextual application
- Created an initial communications group and invited key stakeholders to get updated on Clifton installation progress, identify product/contractual arrangements, and for me to coordinate onboarding training. 1) To ensure that I am fully competent with the technology myself. Especially now the new build is open I have a sense of urgency to support staff and promote its application. 2) Identify and invite a range of teaching staff as early adopters to help support and disseminate the training to others
- Identifying any upcoming planned teaching as this would be beneficial for me to collaborate with academics to further understand the technical functionality and teaching application
- Created a Padlet [images at bottom of this blog post] and shared to IHAP staff that aims to define and capture initial pedagogical ideas and support required. And that enables positive adoption and establishing the kit’s purpose, for meaningful and effective use and to enhance and transform our learning and teaching approaches. It also acts as a central resource for all IHAP colleagues to benefit from such clarity and inspiration. All of which forms as part of my scaffolded approach (basic, intermediate and advanced aspects of VR wall) in integrating the technology into our digital curriculum. I’ll be analysing and refining the contributions on it to progress through a learning design type approach
- Attended official Igloo Vision training day 9th March 2022 along with a couple of our Digital Technologies colleagues (IT team), I prepared my own questions and aims of use ahead of this
- Arranged follow up Igloo Vision 'purposeful play' with Digital Technologies colleagues and discussed my requirements for refining the set up before promoting to colleagues. And to test run the kit, from an academic perspective of starting up and ending a session. With the aim of producing workflows for typical academic to use, and with the intention of offering a series of demos to IHAP colleagues
- Designed an introductory session and arranged a series of dates for staff to attend throughout April and May, acting as a digital leader modelling the kit and potential practice with the VR wall
- Follow-up - I encourage staff to work with me on fleshing out their pedagogical and simulation ideas/designs, 360° video ideas to use as 'stock footage', develop a brief storyboard of a scene/situation to control as it unfolds, and/or if they would like to test through a simulation/scenario idea etc. As well as inviting them to share how they are getting on with it
- Staff encouraged to book both rooms out for purposeful experiment to build up confidence and ideas for application
- A joint exploration or a small-scale project through my IHAP Digital Development Group
- A bit of anecdotal feedback; "Thanks Dan - it was super helpful and exciting to see what we can build with this! Thank you for your time taking us through it all 🤩"
- Promoting our Insta360 X2 camera for staff to loan and capture footage that I am not able to access - the Padlet identifies the potential 360° footage staff wish to make use of
- Contacted Health Education England for good practice/others doing a similar thing - though no response. Considered Association for Learning Technology but decided to carry on establishing myself with it first
- Scheduled further three 'mop up' sessions throughout May and June, to reach new starters and in preparedness for use in the next academic year, and to allow enough time for them to get comfortable and plan simulations around the kit
- I stated that if anyone had been previously introduced to the Mansfield set up or explored it independently, and would benefit from a refresher and to grasp the technical know-how. Feel free to accept and join us. Equally, if they have been a pioneer with the kit, it would be great to hear about their experience of it
- Initiated conversations with Igloo Vision to develop the second and final contractual Unity scene. We have a ward Unity scene and the new one is a dwelling setting that represents the local demographic area
- Development of VR wall competencies mapping document [images at bottom of the blog post, N.B. still in-development not final], for required academic-facing features and competencies. Illustrating a personal development map of what can be learned and is achievable with the kit and at what stage. Once each stage has been comfortably met through a hands-on approach, academics are encouraged to move onto the next stage
- Established immersive learning pedagogical principles/rationale
- Met with a PhD student and demoed the VR wall, exchanged ideas and practice, introduced H5P Virtual Tour (360), Inside the Ambulance, created by Andrew Kirk Principal Lecturer, as an online asynchronous option, as like our virtual placement catalogue (in-development). Though I am lobbying for Igloo Vision to develop an integration where H5P can be run through Igloo Web.
- Met with Theo Penty and co to discuss the final Unity scene development. As part of this I suggested and arranged bi-monthly check-in meetings. Subsequently invited to the Igloo Education Community
- Introduced and delivered brief demos at our Health and Allied Professions Centre opening events; formal 25th May with guests including Vice Chancellor, student representatives and various healthcare and trust stakeholders, and informal 26th May with IHAP staff, students, practice partners, collaborators and other sections of the University - a pleasure to showcase the kit and it’s potential for future simulations and scenarios, whilst adding adding a dash of surface context to the props (mannequins and objects) used
- Arranged a demo with two student society presidents and to obtain their feedback and ideas of its utility. As students will only know it's presence and functionality through academics own awareness and use
What's next?
- Continue developing my knowledge and application of simulation pedagogy, VR, XR and AR in healthcare education
- Further analysing and refining mapping competencies to ensure that there is a clear journey in technical capabilities. Some academics will be confident in getting straight in there which is great, but I am conscious that I need to discover and test aspects, to avoid negative experiences if something is tried and does not work as intended
- Develop guidance to support staff using the Insta360 X2 camera to independently collect 360° footage, as I don't have access to specific places they require
- Prioritise and coordinate what footage needs to be collected and encoded in preparation for the new academic year
- Prepare video banks for ease of selection
- Develop guidance for academics on Unity scene application for in-classroom use
- Ensuring consistency of kit across both campuses to support academic expectations
- Explore intermediate Igloo Vision capabilities and potential through lecture capture
- (somewhat related) Developing a catalogue of virtual placements (scenarios/environments) using the H5P Virtual Tour (360) content type
- Exploring potential of headset technology and use of HoloLens (Augmented Reality)
- Pilot with some of our academics, and writing up a case study/paper on the effective use and impact of our VR immersive wall set ups
- Working with another internal school in implementing their Igloo Vision kit set up
- Created a small bi-monthly informal VR/immersive learning working group in July 2022, replacing and repurposing an existing reoccurring catch up with a learning designer. 1) We have the interest in this area 2) The University looks to be expanding in this area so it would be good to establish design and practice, and capture our learning with the aim of informally sharing a guide of some sort. 3) Through collaboration we can learn from each other’s findings and application, and perhaps do joined up work as time allows. I later invited a couple more learning designers from the central learning design team. Overall, to co-collaborate on developing our understanding and practice in this area and to disseminate our outcomes with the wider university
- EDIT March 2023: now looking to convert this into a NTU TILT Virtual Reality and Immersive Learning practice and scholarship group that I will chair. And the recent LTHEchat below a good base for discussion.
- #LTHE chat 258 Work/practice based learning and the role of simulation/ immersive learning. Discussion led by @DebbieRoberts6 and Wakelet collection.
- Possibility of working with our in-house learning designers on developing future Unity scenes
- Arranged demos with Oxford Medical Simulations and Bodyswaps to explore opportunities to complement the VR walls, as standalone pieces of kit or to integrate with the VR walls to drive further usage
- Collect feedback to form a business case to further them if of interest - but looking to complement as either standalone pieces of technology or integrate with VR walls - it is not used enough so may not be viable to purchase other pieces of technology
- Explore touchable screen options so that users can interact with content better
- Igloo Vision - "A great read Daniel! We're loving the level of detail here 😊"
- Alex Lang - "Hi Dan - the blogpost you shared earlier is fantastic. A bit blown away by the level of detail (in a good way)!"..."Thanks for sharing Dan, it's great to hear an in-depth plan of your vision and aims for the Igloo. Keep us posted on how it goes."
- Laura Mills - "A really interesting read, thanks for sharing Dan!"
- Dr Anne Felton - "Interesting blog from our very own @_Daniel_Scott on the implementation of virtual reality facilities in the new HAP centre. Exciting times to build our knowledge skills and innovation using VR led by Dan. https://danielscott86.blogspot.com/2022/05/virtual-reality-wall.html"
- Dr Anne Felton - "...Very pleased to have @_Daniel_Scott leading digital learning developments for @PublicHealthNTU @NTUNursing @NTUParamedic."
- Nottingham Post - First look at new Nottingham mock hospital with lifelike patient manikins and 'virtual reality'
- Jesrine Clarke-D - "It was an absolute pleasure to present at the #altc22 conference yesterday with Laurie Wilson. Sharing our experiences of using digital technologies to develop simulated placements for #nursing students. You can view our slides here https://tinyurl.com/yckrvf4t"
- Me - "Well done Jesrine and Laurie! 👏 Such impactful work you have achieved! I've ambitions to explore similar interventions and your work here is a brilliant exemplar. @anne_feltonmh - more exciting digital developments ahead. 😀"
- Jesrine Clarke-D - "Thanks 😊 @_Daniel_Scott happy to still catch up with you for a chat about it"
- Me - "Absolutely, thank you. 😀"
- Terese Bird - "Is anyone using 360 degree video or other #VR to teach or examine on patient safety? #meded"
- Me - "I lead on developing the pedagogical application of our VR immersive walls - I'm keen to learn more from others and share practice in this area."
- Terese Bird - "ok all plus @ColleenLRyan12 @macowling and our student group @UoL_MedRIFT here is one of our efforts, preparing med students for ward rounds, how to take notes, overcoming distractions, having empathy https://youtu.be/aR6N6n-HSbY #VR"
- Me - "Back from annual leave - this is brilliant @tbirdcymru! I have similar ambitions. I & academic colleagues are developing in our journey - @ADChillman & I are designing a small-scale pilot. My blog post provides a summary of where I am at: https://danielscott86.blogspot.com/2022/05/virtual-reality-wall.html. @anne_feltonmh"
Megan Juss - "Thank you very much for hosting us all today Scott-Purdy, Daniel. Sorry we had to race off for the train. We'll have to keep in touch."
Jeff Goulding - "Dear Dan and team at Nottingham. Thank you so much for arranging this visit and for your time and patience yesterday. It was a really interesting and useful visit and I am really grateful to you. Please thank your simulation technician for her time also, it was very interesting to hear about your approach to simulation and see the impressive facilities you have. I'm sorry we had to leave to catch our trains as it would have been good to debrief properly. Perhaps we can do this online at some point. Best wishes, Jeff"
Colette Fuller - "Thank you Dan for yesterday! I was lovely to catch up in person and see your facilities. It was really useful to have the cross discipline discussions and hear views from all perspectives. Really encouraging and supportive! Please let's stay in touch, I'm pleased to see more groups and discussions happening, thank you for sharing them. I know Laura will be at the Staffordshire event so hopefully this can continue!"
Megan Juss - "Yes, thanks again Dan, to you and your technician (apologies I cannot recall her name). It was generous of you to share your time and accommodate us and all our questions! Thanks also to everyone else who travelled and contributed to some interesting conversations. I personally appreciated the opportunity to see the igloo facility in action and debate the pros and cons of the tech for various learning activities. Being away from the office provided some good space to talk and hearing more about people's varying experiences of immersive tech was so helpful. You can't beat good cross discipline chat!"
Anna Price (one of our Clinical Skills Technicians) - "Thanks Dan, great feedback and always valued when you put the time in. Happy to showcase our clinical facilities if needs be on any occasion, really enjoy meeting people and I think networking with other clinical skills/simulation sites is valuable."
Me - "Last Thursday @AndyFarr1, @LHMilasan & I delivered a unique #immersivelearning activity to our @NTUNursing students; interactive art-based exploration of lived experiences of trauma using our #NTUMansfield @IglooVision #VR wall. Well-received by students. @anne_feltonmh"
Also featured in the Journal of Innovative Practice in HE (IPiHE), Vol. 5 No. 2 (2023): Special Issue: Collections from Nottingham Trent University, Published: 2023-11-01, 'Behind the Creative Canvas: An innovative trauma-informed art-based educational approach using an immersive learning pedagogy'.
Lucian Milasan - "Some great news - our VR art & trauma project was shortlisted for the Student Nursing Time Awards 2024 - Teaching Innovation of the Year 👏👏👏"
Lucian Milasan - "Excited to represent @NottmTrentUni @NTUNursing at the #STNA 2024 - Teaching Innovation of the Year - with our arts-based trauma-informed immersive approach to mental health nursing education. @_Daniel_Scott @AndyFarr1 https://studentawards.nursingtimes.net/2024/en/page/2024-shortlist"
More in my blog post here about us being shortlisted 'Teaching Innovation of the Year, Student Nursing Times Awards 2024'.
The project was also presented at NTU’s Annual Learning and Teaching Conference on 18 June 2024.
On 30 August 2023, I hosted another visit for Loughborough College's Dan Vaughan, Digital Learning Lead and Kay Herbert, Senior Digital Learning Manager. Along with Jisc's Michele Wildish.
Michele Wildish - "Thanks so much for making time to provide us with a tour of your immersive spaces – I really enjoyed the visit and am super impressed with what you are doing at NTU. Hopefully we will bump into each other again soon."
Dan Vaughan - "Yes thankyou for your time it was great."
Kay Herbert - "Thanks for taking the time to show us around yesterday - it was really useful to see your immersive spaces and hear about how you are using them. Good luck with your future projects."
On 21 September 2023, I hosted a IHAP tour, with the support from Chris Pritchard senior lecturer, of our VR and immersive learning facilities, for the School of Social Sciences Digital Development Group. Lots of inspiration, discussions and digital learning design ideas. Sarah Buglass, principle lecturer in psychology and group chair went onto say; "Thanks again for hosting us this morning - it was fantastic to see the IHAP building and the VR room. You've done a fab job of putting the VR stuff together - you really do need to shout about it to the school 🙂"
On 13 December 2023 I hosted a visit with Art and Design colleagues to experience our Clifton VR wall. Dan Billings, Senior Technician, School of Art & Design commented "Thanks very much for taking the time to meet and show us your VR wall today. It was great to hear some of your firsthand experience managing the space and around content creation/capture. Hopefully, we can collaborate and support each other in the coming years."
Me - "...Thank you for your kind words, it was great to meet you all and prepare the ground for some fruitful collaborations. On your invitation of recreating 3D environments that we can use in our immersive space. As a starting point, what you could attempt to recreate for us is inside a steel factory and inside an airport (check-in or security area). Not sure how straightforward they would be, but I think they would be a valuable addition. I’ll have lots of ideas for utilising your technical skills but I wouldn’t want to take advantage, so it may be best if we set some boundaries to manage this moving forwards?"
26 March 2024 - 'Assessing the current position of the IHAP VR Walls'.
Philippa Armstrong - "Hi Daniel, thanks again for everything today. So much to think about! Best wishes, Pip"
Me - "Hi Pip, great to meet you! Really glad you enjoyed the visit and was helpful to you. Looking forward to my visit soon to Notts College."
