Arts and science: North Carolina HBCU adds virtual reality to nursing program (1291 hits)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Winston-Salem State University's School of Health Sciences is teaming up with the University of North Carolina School of the Arts to launch a new virtual reality training program for the next generation of nurses.
WSSU will be the first Historically Black College and University in the state to include virtual reality in the nursing curriculum.
Nearly $800,000 was awarded to the two schools for digital design and program implementation.
Funding was provided by the North Carolina Collaboratory through an appropriation from the state general assembly.
This endeavor will be one of the largest investments in virtual reality through the Media and Emerging Technology program at UNCSA. This is also one of the most significant partnerships between the two schools.
This program includes training techniques designed to help address the national nursing shortage, which has drawn attention from educational nursing programs across the country.
Virtual reality will be used to help nursing students apply what they learned in the classroom through simulations of real-world experiences.
The arts and science collide in this joint program that integrates storytelling and technology with the newest RN certifying standards, NCLEX.
The curriculum was launched on April 25. The VR lab will be housed in the Center for Design Innovation.
The curriculum is a customized educational platform produced in conjunction with UNCSA's School of Filmmaking and industry partners Looking Glass XR and Out of Our Minds Studio.
Initial VR modeling for the project was constructed using Unreal Engine, a platform developed by North Carolina-based "Epic Games."
