Cuyahoga CC Tests 3D Simulation App in Anatomy Class
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 11/13/13
A community college in Cleveland, OH has just begun testing a new interactive 3D simulation intended to help its students learn how stress affects the body. Cuyahoga Community College worked with interactive design company Designing Digitally to create the program. This project is intended to let students visualize and interact with the chain of reactions initiated by stress in various organs and organ systems. Because it's programmed in HTML5, the program will work on iOS devices as well as other operating systems.
"This project began as an opportunity to partner with our faculty to create an engaging, innovative learning object to support student success in one of our highest enrollment courses — Anatomy and Physiology," said Danielle Budzick, director of Innovative Learning Design & Quality. Budzick led the project, which was instigated by student feedback that they wanted greater visual demonstration of the material they were learning.
The simulation is being tested currently by subject matter experts and faculty on a subset of students to understand the impact on their learning experiences. However, the college also expects to roll it out this semester to a wider group of students.
Designing Digitally has worked with a number of institutions on similar projects. For example, it helped develop a 3D game for occupational therapy students at Rutgers University and a 3D simulation of DNA sequencing for Auburn University.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.