Streamlining Tangible 3D Printed and Intangible XR Content Creation and Evaluation: The ENTICE Experience

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Immersive Technologies
• Anatomy and Surgery Training

Background:

• Traditional medical education struggles to provide effective, hands-on anatomy and surgery training.
• There is a growing need for innovative learning resources to meet evolving educational demands.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate co-created immersive learning resources and tools for medical education.
• To establish a robust creation pipeline for medical experiential content using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), and 3D printing.
• To assess the effectiveness of these resources in supporting learning objectives in anatomy and surgery.

Main Methods:

• Utilized co-creative methodologies to design and build immersive learning resources.
• Developed and evaluated tangible and intangible resources including AR/VR/MR applications and 3D printed models.
• Conducted preliminary evaluations of the learning resources and tools across three countries.

Main Results:

• The project successfully developed a suite of immersive learning resources and tools.
• Preliminary evaluations indicate the potential of these resources to support well-defined learning objectives in anatomy and surgery.
• Identified key lessons learned from the cross-country evaluation process.

Conclusions:

• The ENTICE project demonstrates the value of co-creative methodologies in developing effective medical experiential content.
• Immersive technologies like AR/VR/MR and 3D printing offer promising avenues for enhancing anatomy and surgery education.
• Further refinement based on evaluation findings can optimize these tools for broader implementation in medical training programs.