Enhancing Authentic Learning in Primary Care: Real-Time Immersive Experiences in Family Medicine Clerkships
In medical education, too, much is expected of IX applications, certainly given the staff shortages in healthcare. With IX, students should go through a suitable and effective learning experience. Maastricht University is therefore investigating, together with two general practices, how students can experience real patient consultations digitally and live by means of IX.
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HEFT: Heritage for the Future
HEFT: Heritage for the future – expanding the IX ecosystem for embodied cultural experiences HEFT aims to strengthen and develop the IX field by bridging systemic challenges - limitations in scalability, inaccessible public spaces, low discoverability - through artistic research. The consortium focuses on developing artistic methodologies that embrace the embodied qualities of IX, foster collective engagement and enable scalable preservation and version management (heritage) for long-term access. The project operationalises five core objectives ('reimagine', 'unite', 'sustain', 'empower' and 'safeguard'). The consortium's key contribution is generating fundamental, sector-wide and transferable knowledge and tools. The activity programme is carried out through five interconnected work packages, with an emphasis on artistic research through design using IX prototypes from makers. Key results include the framework for embodied design methods, toolkits, guidelines and recommendations for policy and international support. The efforts culminate in an international conference and the integration of the results into educational programmes. A sustainability plan safeguards the long-term impact and application of the results.
Gedeelde inzichten in interactionele en impactvolle XR
XR learning environments - such as VR simulations and interactive training scenarios - are increasingly used in health care, communication, safety and public services. They help professionals practise difficult conversations, analyse complex situations and experiment safely with new behaviour. Despite this growth, it is not yet sufficiently clear which didactic and design choices make these environments effective, inclusive and responsible. The project Gedeelde inzichten in interactionele en impactvolle XR investigates how immersive learning environments can be designed to support learning, reflection and meaningful professional practice. The focus is not on the technology, but on the experience of users: how they navigate, interpret, process feedback and gain insight into digital decision-making processes. Together with XR creators and partners from the health care and public sectors, we analyse existing applications - such as VR-Gedeelde Smart and the BEP environments - and gather experiences from designers, health care professionals, communication advisers and environmental analysts. We build on existing, long-used XR learning environments and a proven collaboration, so that we do not need to develop new technology and can devote resources fully to research, analysis and validation. By linking their practical knowledge to insights from conversation analysis, user experience design, adoption theories and smart education, we develop and validate a set of generic design and didactic principles for effective and responsible XR learning environments. These principles address, among other things, clarity, interaction, reflection, accessibility and value-conscious design. The results yield scalable knowledge for the broad XR sector: from design studios and public organisations to educators working with immersive technology. In doing so, the project contributes to a more responsible and inclusive use of XR in society and offers concrete tools for digital decision-making and complex communication.
May I ask you a question? A large-scale experiment examining the effectiveness of a multimodal, conversational digital dietitian on nutritional knowledge in virtual reality
Dietitians play a key role in health care, but a shortage of well-trained professionals is looming. Wageningen University & Research is therefore exploring an immersive digital dietitian: in VR, patients learn about portions, energy density and food preparation by preparing virtual meals themselves. The central question is whether the virtual dietitian's conversational abilities and non-verbal communication - asking questions, gestures, facial expressions - further strengthen the learning effect.
GausScape: Evaluating 3D Gaussian Splatting for Spatial Understanding in Greenhouse Environments
In greenhouse horticulture, operators have to monitor optimal growing conditions for crops. Together with two SMEs, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) focuses on the question: what desirable and undesirable effects does a specific 3D technique (Gaussian Splatting) have on operators' work process, perception and decision-making, as opposed to the current technique? In addition, the insights from this research may be relevant to other sectors.