The WISE Room: Development of an Immersive Wellbeing Resource in Student Education
In the field of healthcare education, innovative approaches are often required to address the complexities and pressures faced by nursing professionals. The WISE Room is a solution that was brought to us from Dr. Tor Alexander Bruce at Northumbria University. We had the privilege to be able to aid in the content creation towards this innovative project; building an interactive CAVE experience that allows users to navigate a wide range of experiential learning, training & well-being focused options.
One of the experiences within the WISE Room
A Multifaceted Collaboration
The WISE Room project emerged from a £40,000 grant awarded by NHS England, bringing together the insights and expertise of Associate Professor Barry Hill, Assistant Professors Dr. Deborah Flynn and Dominique Simpson, and the project's lead, Dr. Tor Alexander Bruce, an interdisciplinary researcher specialising in health and life sciences. Dr. Bruce's background and work in the field of human-computer interaction have been instrumental in guiding the project.
AP3D's collaboration with Dr. Bruce and Associate Professor Hill, among others, turned an innovative idea into (virtual) reality. This teamwork facilitated the creation of the Wellbeing in Student Education (WISE) Room, hosted at the University’s Coach Lane Campus in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Immersive Rooms Designed with Care
Designing this CAVE experience required some key aspects to consider when catering to users needs:
Experiential Learning Spaces:
Within the Immersive learning environment, students can interact collaboratively with the educational content on subjects ranging from nutrition to how to deal with difficult subject matters; all of this is achieved within a safe-space that nurtures the students ability to fail-fast and learn without judgement.
Wellbeing Focus:
Drawing on Dr. Bruce's work with digital therapeutic interventions in a context of trauma in mental health care, the WISE Room provides calming auditory experiences, videos, and images to foster relaxation.
Human-Centered Design:
Accessibility was a big factor within this study as a user-centred design project. Menu items were prominently positioned & straightforward to action as effective tools. The system was also developed to support neuro-inclusivity to give students at Northumbria a wider scope of usage.
The WISE Room - Title Screen
The WISE Room’s Impact
The WISE Room is now being evaluated for:
Supporting At-Risk Students: The primary objective of lowering attrition rates among undergraduate students in nursing, midwifery, and health programs has guided the initiative.
Potential for Nationwide Roll-Out: The concept behind the WISE Room could have applications across various working environments in the country.
Multi-Technology Platform: By merging state-of-the-art VR CAVE technology, user-focused design, and multiple device compatibility, the WISE Room has become a versatile, multisensory learning space.
Interdepartmental Collaboration: Extensive collaboration among students, staff, and external partners, including AP3D, has turned the initiative into a robust, interdepartmental research project.
Final Thoughts
The creation of the WISE Room stands as a compelling example of a collaborative innovation of multidisciplinary research between HCI & Healthcare. Combining the visionary ideas of Dr. Bruce and his academic team with our technological expertise at AP3D, this groundbreaking project sets a new standard for how digital spaces can be used in healthcare education.
AP3D takes immense pride in its contribution to this collaboration, transforming research and visionary concepts into virtual reality experiences. Our ongoing commitment is to continue working closely with researchers, professionals, and educational institutions to develop technology that resonates with the essential needs in education and various other fields.
If you’d like to find out more about how AP3D can bring your academic research project into (virtual) reality, click here to contact us today.