Virtual and mixed reality inferior to traditional learning in anatomy education

In this article, a team from McMaster University explains results of its latest study about efficiency of VR and AR in teaching anatomy. Immersive technologies in this case don’t help students and, in the contrary, decrease their results! It’s a good reminder that the technology alone can’t solve all problems. Solutions have to be imagined more globally.

Groups of 20 undergraduate students at McMaster with no prior anatomic training learned pelvic anatomy under seven conditions: physical model with and without stereo vision; MR with and without stereo vision; VR with and without stereo vision, and key views on a computer monitor. All were tested with a real human pelvis and a 15-item, short-answer recognition test. Students were not allowed to touch any of the physical models.

The results showed that, compared to the key views on a computer monitor, the physical model had a 70 per cent increase in accuracy; the VR a 25 per cent increase, and the MR a non-significant 2.5 per cent advantage.

Source: Virtual and mixed reality inferior to traditional learning in anatomy education | EurekAlert! Science News

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