As part of the Interreg Central Europe project VReduMED, the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg held its first regional network meeting in collaboration with the Bavarian Strategic Partnership for Sensor Technology. The meeting was the national prelude to events on the topic of “XR use in nursing education, training and further education”.
The first network meeting, which brought together representatives from nursing schools, universities, care facilities and industry partners, served as a platform for exchanging ideas and testing the latest XR applications, which were developed specifically for the needs of nursing training in German-speaking countries. The latest virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications are designed to make everyday learning more interactive. “XR technologies in nursing will not fundamentally revolutionize nursing training, but they can enhance existing learning methods. In the project, we are investigating what teachers and students want in practice, how this can be successfully implemented in the curriculum and what support facilities need to implement it.” Prof. Dr. Christa Mohr.
Following the test phase, the experiences made with the VR applications shortly beforehand were taken up directly in an open innovation workshop in order to create an overview of the skills required for teachers in nursing training. In the second step, the participants used the most important points as examples to work out how these skills can best be taught or methodically developed.
Afterwards, the participants worked in groups to collect ideas for further applications and scenarios that can serve as inspiration for the software developers and the project team as the project progresses.
“In the coming months, OTH Regensburg plans to test and evaluate selected XR applications and hardware in close cooperation with interested institutions from the field. This step will not only provide valuable insights into the effectiveness and applicability of these technologies in nursing training, but will also help to further refine and adapt them.” Research associate Anselm Stadler
The first network meeting impressively demonstrated how essential it is to be open to new teaching methods and to recognize the potential of XR technologies for education and training in nursing. There is no question that the journey has only just begun, and those involved are excited about the developments to come.
“The use of XR in education opens doors to a world of experience-based learning. It offers the opportunity to add another interesting medium to conventional teaching in order to acquire skills in the field of nursing. VReduMED promotes this development in nursing education.” Teacher for special tasks & research assistant Andrea Sattler