“I thought that if I could show the students exactly what I was trying to describe using 3D models, the students would have a better understanding from the start,” said Danielle Franco, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry. Franco was one of the first instructors to trial the technology with her class in fall 2022.ĚýĚý

The Delphi Center has capabilities to support extended reality (XR), which is the umbrella term for virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR). They currently support VR for interested instructors and hope to evolve into supporting AR and MR, too. With the Delphi Center’s XR headsets, instructors can create immersive environments that enable learners to explore and interact with content in an engaging way, such as virtually manipulating life-size molecules. In a post-session survey, the majority of students said XR helped them learn about chemistry and they felt more engaged in the XR session than they do in chemistry class when they do not use XR.Ěý

XR technology is more than a buzzword. When implemented in sound pedagogical strategies, it is an exceptional tool for instruction used to engage and retain students, as well as assist in meeting learning outcomes. This technology can support learners to develop problem solving and critical thinking skills while facilitating a more engaging and enjoyable learning experience. XR also provides learners the opportunity to prepare for real-world experiences in a safe and controlled environment, allowing them to gain experience and confidence while simultaneously limiting distractions, such as cell phones, during the session.ĚýĚý

Jordan Gabbard and Lucian Rothe, professors of German in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, used XR technology to create an experiential learning session for their students to interact as if they were walking the streets of a German city. This activity also provided equitable access to all students, removing barriers for students that may not be able to study abroad for financial reasons, family responsibilities or other factors.Ěý

“VR/XR gives us the opportunity to create interactive and fully immersive environments for our students, and to allow our students to experience and be immersed in the sights and sounds of authentic, German-speaking locations,”ĚýGabbard and Rothe said. “These types of activities can’t be fully recreated in the traditional classroom, so access to XR technology really does give us new and unique learning tools to use with our students.”

The German students’ post-session survey results echoed the sentiments shared in Franco’s Chemistry class, agreeing that they felt it was a tool that assisted their learning and that they would like to use the XR equipment again in the future.ĚýĚý

This year, these instructors plan to continue utilizing XR activities in the Teaching Innovation Learning Lab (TILL). The Delphi Center is currently working with additional faculty who are looking to include innovative XR content in their different fields of study and welcome more instructors to use this tool.Ěý

All UofL instructors who are interested in XR technologies, no matter their level of XR experience, are welcome to connect with the Delphi Center in pursuing XR teaching opportunities. The Delphi Center team offers one-on-one assistance with each instructor to provide resources and collaborate on effective XR activities that align with the instructor’s content. The Delphi Center continues to explore more opportunities with instructors such as XR content creation, workshops and possibly a Faculty Learning Community.Ěý

The XR headsets are available for instructors to use in the TILL on the third floor of Ekstrom Library. Learn more about teaching with XR in the TILL and other opportunities within XR through the Delphi Center .ĚýĚý

For more information on XR and how it is impacting the way students learn, look for the summer 2023 issue of UofL Magazine out later this year.Ěý

By Brooke Whitaker, Delphi Center

The program provides training and $50,000 to develop new, technology-backed startups. The UofL team, led by School of Medicine research scientist Matthew Neal, completed an intensive, two-month boot camp learning about commercialization, engaging with industry and talking to more than 100 potential customers.

Neal and his collaborators — co-technical leads Pavel Zahorik and Shae Morgan, both in the audiology department — are developing a virtual reality-based technology to help patients test different models and program their hearing aids, without leaving the comfort of the clinical setting.Ěý

With this tool, audiologists could use a VR headset or a wide screen display to demonstrate how specific hearing aid models and settings would perform in different, realistic environments, such as a school, noisy restaurant, grocery store or church. The idea, Neal said, is to help patients find the right fit.

“It’s kind of like test-driving a new car and seeing how it performs in real-world conditions,” Neal said. “We want to help people choose the hearing aid and get it programmed specifically for the specific environments where they have trouble, and with virtual reality technologies, you can do that without leaving your audiologist’s office.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, one in eight Americans over the age of 12 have some degree of hearing loss and about 28.8 million adults could benefit from using hearing aids.

Following the I-Corps national program, the researchers now are developing a working prototype and considering various funding routes to continue research efforts and pursue commercialization of the technology. Their product development efforts are supported by business mentor Tendai Charasika, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence in the UofL Office of Research and Innovation.

The team is also in a research partnership with both theĚýHeuserĚýHearing Institute, a not-for-profit hearing healthcare organization serving Kentuckiana, and Sonova, a hearing aid manufacturer.

“We are proud that our decades-long partnership with the University of Louisville to further the field of audiology with cutting-edge hearing healthcare technology has led to this recognition,” said House CEO Brett Bachmann.Ěý“CongratulationsĚýto Matthew Neal, Pavel Zahorik and Shae Morgan.

Teams must be nominated for the national I-Corps Teams bootcamp, and must first complete UofL’s regional I-Corps site program and , UofL’s product innovation bootcamp. UofL and partners recently received $15 million from the National Science Foundation to launch a new regionalĚýNSF Mid-SouthĚýInnovation CorpsĚý(I-Corps) Hub, one of only 10 across the U.S.

Neal’s team also received funding and coaching through UofL’s Pandemic-Related Product Acceleration & Responsive Entrepreneurship Program, or PRePARE, which partners UofL researchers with companies and members of the community to scale up innovative ideas addressing health, economic and societal issues caused by pandemics. The PRePARE program fostered the additional collaboration between UofL and Heuser Hearing Institute.Ěý

“These programs support commercialization of the work being done by our researchers here at UofL,” said Jessica Sharon, UofL’s director of innovation programs. “We’re proud of Matthew and the team at the Heuser Hearing Institute, and their work to accelerate product development of this innovation that addresses unmet needs in theĚý market and could help many people.”Ěý