While there are 28 million nurses globally, in 2019, more than 80,000 qualified nursing students were turned away from nursing schools due to insufficient faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budgetary constraints.  Additionally, 1 out of 6 nurses will be retiring in the next 10 years. 

In response to the nationwide nursing supply challenge, KC Digital Drive helped launch an immersive nursing education project at KU that leverages two emerging technology solutions to address the dual issues of accessibility and engagement.  

• • • Virtual curriculum: The development of highly-engaging, competency-based VR content for nursing students helps bolster prospective student enrollment and builds up a pipeline of students 
    • Learning delivery platform: A widely accessible platform offers students the ability to learn from anywhere in the country –  and allows the School of Nursing to move from a cohort-based learning delivery program to a more engaging and effective competency-based curriculum delivered virtually, meeting the students “where they are.”

Meta provided the project with 50 Oculus Quest 2 headsets + funding to build a digital twin with Victory XR for a fall pilot. The digital twin utilizes nursing-specific content created by Bundle of Rays, which allows nursing students with a VR headset to ‘walk’ onto campus from anywhere in the country and attend classes and complete clinical work.

This pilot has brought together virtual curricula and learning delivery platforms with the University of Kansas School of Nursing’s faculty and researchers, KC Digital Drive’s resource network and project delivery capability, and leverages 10G connectivity to remove latency and access barriers. 

Learn more: 

• • • VictoryXR Announces Launch of ‘Metaversities’ in U.S. in Partnership with Meta
    • Kansas School of Nursing to launch courses on metaversity with Fall pilot