Virtual Reality for Veterinary Teaching

Dr. Stephen Brewster
Department of Computing Science,
University of Glasgow,
Glasgow, G12 8RZ
stephen@dcs.gla.ac.uk

Dr. Nik Kriz
Weipers Centre for Equine Welfare,
University of Glasgow,
Glasgow, G12 8QQ
nkriz@udcf.gla.ac.uk

Prof. Stuart Reid
Professor of Veterinary Informatics and Epidemiology,
Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde
s.w.j.reid@vet.gla.ac.uk

This short paper describes two Virtual Reality projects underway to help teaching in Veterinary Medicine and describes the methods planned for evaluation. This paper promotes the benefits of collaborative research around a technology centred project but warns of evaluation being lost.

Haptic technology, Visualisation, Veterinary Informatics, Educational Evaluation, Virtual Reality, VRML

The project is a three year SHEFC funded project, began in October 1997. The project is carrying out pioneering work in developing and demonstrating the value of advanced technology for storing and communicating high-fidelity sound, images, moving-images, three-dimensional models and sophisticated interface programs. REVELATION is intended to act as a catalyst for multi-disciplinary research into computer-supported educational communication and self-managed study. Two of the current projects are running in collaboration with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

The University of Glasgow has a commitment to the implementation of non-invasive procedures for diagnostic and education purposes in Veterinary Medicine, wherever possible. As part of the continued development in the use of technology in Veterinary education (e.g. ultrasonographic facilities, collation of electronic archival materials) Virtual Reality is now being explored as a possible aid to teaching and in particular to replace invasive examination procedures.

Below are screenshots taken from a VRML model of a horse’s skull. This model provides students with greater access to horses anatomical bones, necessary for learning the anatomical structure of a horse.

Fig 1: VRML 3D Models of Equine Skull captured via a 3D camera.

In order to address the serious welfare implications of veterinary students being required to learn skills of internal examinations by practice on live horses we are exploring the use of Haptic or forcefeedback technology to develop a Virtual Reality simulation of the procedure.

Fig 2: PHANToM Force Feedback Device.

Fig 3: Haptic Model of Equine Ovaries

Minsky (in Blattner and Dannenberg 1992) describes haptic technology as "Force display technology works by using mechanical actuators to apply forces to the user. By simulating the physics of the user’s virtual model, we can compute these forces in real time, and then send them to the actuators so that the user feels them."

Virtual Reality simulation projects like those described above are only effective if they manage to communicate similar experiences to the user, to those that the real situation would provide. It is important to ensure that the "whizz bang" nature of virtual reality and the technologies associated with it, do not detract from performing essential evaluation work. The collaborative, multi-disciplinary nature of the REVELATION project has brought together techniques and approaches from many areas.

Evaluations planned on the projects aim to evaluate both the educational effectiveness and the usability of such projects. Evaluation techniques developed during research in Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) (Draper et al 1994), have shown that the success or failure of a new technology based teaching resource is due to how well the resource is integrated into the overall curriculum. Research conducted using a design method created for producing Higher Education instructional materials specifically, influenced by HCI and software engineering design traditions (Montgomery Masters 1998), has indicated that educational materials produced are consequently more pedagogically sound. NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) can be used to assess the workload placed on users in the following subcategories: Mental Demands, Physical demands, Temporal Demands, Own Performance, Effort and Frustration.

Blattner, M. and Dannenburg, R.B., Eds. (1992) Multimedia Interface Design. ACM Press, Addison-Wesley, New York.

Draper S W, Brown M I,Edgerton E,Henderson,F P,McAteer E,Smith E D,Watt H D, (1994) Observing And Measuring The Of Educational Technology: ISBN 085261 521 3 ,TILT University of Glasgow

Montgomery Masters, M. (1998) The Practical Design Method, Technical Report 1998-1, University of Glasgow.

Hart, S. and Staveland, L. (1988) Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of empirical and theoretical research. In Human mental workload, Hancock, P. and Meshkati, N. (Ed.), North Holland B.V., Amsterdam, p139-183.