Angela ~ Wearable Tech In the Classroom: Taking The Education Industry By Storm
The first thing that comes to my mind with incorporating wearable tech into the classroom is expense. This is going to need to be addressed sooner than later since wearable tech is apparently "taking the education industry by storm". After reading this article I am excited to investigate a couple of suggestions that may not cost anything to incorporate into the classroom. Since this is a class about different medical professions available to students and an opportunity for students to assess if they truly want to get into medicine it is great to incorporate as much real-world experiences as possible. We do have clinical experiences for the majority of the year, but with what is happening with COVID-19 today, what would happen to the program if the hospitals decide to cut the student programs? This is a real fear that many of our instructors and administrators are discussing. With fingers crossed, this will not happen and we will continue next year with a refreshed sense of opportunity.
The Allied Health program has already taken the teaching industry to the next level with many hours of clinical experience in an inpatient and outpatient setting. However, in the classroom, it is hard to replicate much of what is being observed in the clinical setting. I am looking forward to checking out Expeditions, a virtual reality option to view many museums anywhere in the world. I am hoping that there are museums that will be available in "Expedition" to demonstrate the history of medicine. We have come such a long way with medicine, including the invention and incorporation of wearable technology. This could be a mind-blowing experience for the students and truly pique their interest in the medical profession.
Visiting the Mütter's Museum will become child's play if the students could experience a place such as a historical museum about the nature and history of medicine via virtual reality. It will never take place of the actual, physical experience of visiting the museum, but it will certainly add an amazing element to the curriculum. The "Brain AR App" sounds amazing! That will be another area of research that will be explored to possibly incorporate into the Allied Health program.
Each year the Allied Health students learn how to take vital signs. Having the ability to record activity to enhance assessment skills of vital signs will reinforce the learning curve for accuracy and clearer understanding. This will also take the burden off of the instructor to assess each student individually and allow for more autonomy for each student to make their own assessments. Finally, the headband wearable technology named Muse is an awesome tool to demonstrate brain activity. This doesn't feel futuristic at all and I am looking forward to exploring, researching, and experimenting with many new wearable technologies that become available, as long as it is within the timeframe before my retirement. ;-)
Virtual Reality is such an awesome idea if we could all afford to do it. I've tried so many different ways for my students, but we're not allowed to use the students' personal devices because if something happens to them, then we're responsible. I was able to do a virtual trip to Pearl Harbor with iPads, but it just wasn't the same as if we had the VR goggles. This would definitely be awesome for your medical students to get more "hands on" experiences when they can't be in the hospitals. I hope the hospitals do not cut your program.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tip on Expeditions. I too am going to look into this on a personal note I would love to learn the history of medicine. Professionally I teach students about European history and we learn about historical figures from Galen o Louis Pasteur so if I could get even more information on this it would be helpful with my lessons.
ReplyDeleteThe Mutter museum is such a fascinating place to explore. It would be great to be able to do this from our classrooms. The only downside is that we wouldn't be able to go to lunch at the Reading Terminal Market.
ReplyDeleteThis program would be an awesome addition because like Dom I teach European history learning about the history of medicine would mesh well with our curriculum , I also could use it with psychology
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