College awarded Grant; plans to add Virtual Reality Training to Health Programs
Posted May 25, 2016 at 9:28 amPennsylvania Highlands Community College has been awarded a Lee Initiatives Grant in the amount of $1,766. The College plans to use this funding to enhance its Medical Assisting, Medical Coding, and Healthcare Information Specialist programs through the development of virtual reality educational tools and videos.
Pennsylvania Highlands plans to begin instituting a portion of the virtual reality programming during the upcoming fall semester with assistance from students in the Media Production program. “This is an exciting time for Pennsylvania Highlands Community College. Innovation is always at the forefront of our minds when developing ways to improve the student experience, and this is a great example of that mindset,” stated Dr. Walter Asonevich, President of Pennsylvania Highlands. “This shows the strong collaborative spirit infused throughout our College as students from different programs will be creating a stronger educational experience together.”
An example of the virtual reality experience being designed is a tour through the human body. This will be where a virtual reality “body-ship” will be “shrunk” to the size of a single blood cell and the student will find him or herself moving through a patient’s veins. The challenge for the student will be to identify body structures and recognize signs of disease.
This collaboration will begin to take shape over the summer and into the fall at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, with a focus on enhancing the Medical Assisting program first. The College is looking to add virtual reality into clinical sessions as soon as possible through the design of the clinical scenarios mentioned above.
Photo includes (left to right): Rick Bukoski, Instructor of Communication and Media Studies; Tammy Calpin, Instructor of Medical Assisting and Practicum Coordinator; and Dr. Robert Barrett, Chairman of Lee Initiatives. The photo was taken during the Lee Initiatives Grant Awards Ceremony.