Growing 3D Organically (1)

(For the backstory, see last week's blog post)

Dr. Andy Kuniyuki

3D visualization (stereo, using passive display technology) continues to be integrated into every anatomy and physiology offering on campus at Nevada State. Systematized, if you will. And college leaders and faculty have not held pat. They have also integrated 3D visualization into their new student orientation activities. Dr. Andy Kuniyuki, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences explains exactly how they do it: “Every new student orientation is conducted in rooms where they show, side-by-side, 2d (PowerPoint) and stereo 3D visualization.” Dean Kuniyuki chuckles as he reminisces, asking the question: “which do you prefer?”  He knows the answer beforehand, but he is trying to excite students for the first time, exposing them to this valuable learning tool even before students attend their first classes. “They are thrilled that we have that possibility [3D visualization].”

Nevada State is also moving forward on their visualization agenda. First, 3D visualization is making a big move into the School of Nursing. Use of 3D visualization in anatomy and physiology classes initially caused the word to get out and spread. Hearing from the students themselves, college administrators were hearing that older students wanted these richly visual learning experiences, as well. Nursing school leaders knew that there was huge evidence that pathophysiology is a defining course for nursing students. The current emphasis for instruction is a nursing/whole person perspective. Yet, a firm grasp of pathophysiology is known to be a real predictor of how students will perform as nurses in the field. What the school was missing was a teaching perspective that zoomed down to the tissue, cellular, and molecular levels. 3D visualization could help with this specific instructional challenge by filling a missing link in their instruction. A plan was developed to have instructors from both the liberal arts/sciences and the school of nursing co-teach these nursing courses in the NSC visualization labs. The first co-taught offerings begin this coming spring.

In our next post, we will take a close look at a second wave of 3D visualization strategy at Nevada State College.