Abstract:

The main purpose of this study is to develop an interactive multimedia system for the nursing students to learn human organs. Four parts are established in this project, including the brain, lung, liver and kidney. Applying the technology of Desktop Geometry Virtual Reality, two software packages were used: ‘3Ds Max’ was utilised to build up 3-D models for these organs. They were then exported to the other software named ‘Virtools’ to be further coded and processed in order to achieve the interactive functions.

A feature of this system is the design of its user-friendly interface. This interface enables users to manipulate each sub-part of the models. The basic manipulation functions include translating, rotating, zooming in, zooming out, disassembling, and changing the transparency of each sub-part. Besides, it also supplies a bilingual version so that nursing students can get familiar with the medical terminologies in both Chinese and English languages.

This system let nursing students learn the human anatomy and pathology in a different way, and its interactive functions allow learners immersed in the virtual learning environment which is a new approach for nursing education.

Keywords:

Interactive multimedia, geometry-based virtual reality, human organs.