Extended reality (XR) technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) are transformative tools that are changing the way students access key information and skills in medical programs. Unlike lecture, books or video, XR allows students to master material through interactivity and deeper exploration.

Today's educators are constantly looking for new interactive tools to engage students. Virtual Reality (VR) has been recognized for some time as a key technology that can bring the educational experience to the next level, while Extended Reality (XR), which incorporates VR and Augmented Reality (AR), has become the new cutting edge of learning.

Healthcare students are better prepared for clinical situations when they experience realistic patient scenarios. Leading institutions like Otago Polytechnic School of Nursing are turning to immersive technologies to provide these experiences to their students. Otago was an early adopter of HoloPatient, a mixed-reality app that utilizes Microsoft's HoloLens 2. 

Until recently, the focus of Extended Reality (XR) technologies, which encompasses Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality, has been to provide simulated audiovisual experiences in a physical space. And while the industry is constantly looking to improve how we see and hear in the XR world, there are new technologies, such as haptics, that are bringing the sense of touch into the virtual space as well.

As medical workers continue to care for Coronavirus patients around the globe, uncertainties still surround many aspects of the illness. Information about rates of contagiousness and how best to care for patients is being updated and changing by the day, leaving many healthcare workers grappling for how they can best look after patients and keep themselves and co-workers safe at the same rate.  

As undergraduate and graduate students sit in limbo, universities around the world are contemplating what the upcoming Fall 2020 school year will look like. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed every aspect of work and life — and universities, uniquely, must manage risk in both classrooms and on-campus housing situations. 

In our E-book: Immersive Technologies in Healthcare Training, GIGXR explores the expansion of Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Realities in the healthcare industry.  We look at the current state and development of these Extended Realities (XR) and how learning and teaching can be enhanced with these resources.

Extended reality (XR) solutions provide unique immersive experiences that allow staff and students to engage and collaborate better, and learn at a pace that matches their learning styles. These technologies can aid learning and training at reduced costs and with positive ROI.

Through these extraordinary and unprecedented times in which we find ourselves, I find myself marveling at the power of the human spirit and our ability to adapt. As an Englishman abroad, I can be forgiven for once believing that it was a quintessentially British trait to keep calm and carry on in the face of adversity. I stand corrected. Clearly, when the going gets tough, we take a collective breath, keep calm and carry on.