Immersive scenarios in VR allow nursing education programs to enhance and scale the hands-on experiences they provide learners for developing and practicing critical skills.

As part of a larger initiative in spatial learning, RPCC expanded its VR Mobile Sim Lab to include a permanent, fixed VR Sim Lab at Reserve. With over 50 pre-built scenarios, instructors and students can get started in the VR platform immediately. And when students are done, the VR healthcare platform allows for instructors to capture data that otherwise is counterproductive, if not impossible, to assess student performance with necessary skills. From how long the student took to make decisions, to rewatching the student’s performance, and even automatically capturing skills gaps based on objectives the instructor prescribes, faculty can focus more on the teaching, learning, and reteaching necessary to help students reach their highest potential as healthcare professionals. However, the power of this VR healthcare platform goes beyond those features. In consultation with faculty, RPCC’s Department of Innovative Teaching & Learning is developing their own healthcare experiences in VR to represent situations healthcare professionals more accurately in south Louisiana will encounter.

The Andrea Lewis Siek School of Nursing at Maria College has opened its Center for Academic Innovation, which includes a virtual reality simulation lab. The head of the new center, Dr. Jason Coley, said it’s an opportunity to simulate real-life scenarios so nursing students can practice before they work with people in real life. Coley said the lab tracks student progress and helps students with decision-making and communication skills. In addition, scenarios can be changed on the fly to make them more challenging for advanced students.