Abstract:

In recent years, the development of immersive technologies has progressed significantly, becoming more accessible and emerging as a fundamental change agent in how we will engage across all levels of society. These technologies are already being used in the workplace for various functions and for leisure and everyday life. They are recognized as the most disruptive technology of the next decade, with healthcare and education being amongst the most disrupted fields. Emerging research shows that Virtual Reality (VR) offers potential advantages for educational simulation and therapeutic intervention through its ability to capture and recreate interactions in virtual environments. In educational simulation, VR presents unique opportunities to improve educational outcomes through increased engagement, enriched learning experiences and improved understanding, and increased knowledge retention. Through three-dimensional rendering of environments that incorporates visual, auditory, tactile and/or kinesthetic elements, VR offers learners more appeal, interest, and engagement. This has distinct advantages over more tradition representation modes such as text, picture, video, or 3-D models, as it stimulates most of the senses that humans use when navigating real-world environments. In therapeutic intervention, personalizable virtual environments that simulate real-life experiences offer a unique means of delivering potentially highly effective precision therapeutics, improving patient outcomes. Given the potential benefits and inevitable proliferation of VR, particularly in health-related fields like speech-language pathology that are highly experiential with a clinical component, the Speech-Language Pathology Program at the University of the District of Columbia embarked on an initiative to systematically integrate immersive technologies into the curriculum and collect data on effectiveness in teaching and clinical practice.

This presentation outlines that initiative and includes examination of aspects of the process deemed necessary to the successful integration and implementation of immersive technologies into an educational curriculum, including faculty and student attitudes on the use of these technologies within the field, examination of the effectiveness of immersive technologies in increasing training and therapeutic outcomes, availability and access to immersive technologies and software that meet defined educational and therapeutic needs, and adaptability of these technologies to meet specific educational and clinical needs. Barriers to implementation were identified, as well as limitations of VR use related to user characteristics. Lastly, the process highlighted the need for practice guidelines and standards to govern the emerging use of VR technologies in the field of speech-language pathology, encompassing both educational and clinical components. Ultimately, the purpose of this presentation is to spur discussion and exploration of the use of immersive technologies, particularly VR, in the clinical sciences to advance student learning and increase patient therapeutic outcomes.

Keywords:

Innovation, learning, teaching, immersive technologies, virtual reality, therapy, speech language pathology, extended reality, mixed reality, augmented reality.