Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States.
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, United States.
Front Public Health. 2022 Nov 23;10:1040018. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1040018. eCollection 2022.
Technology has transformed the classroom and learning environments. From electronic whiteboards to tablet computers, educators now have access to a multitude of tools that enhance the learning experience. Educational technologies that rely on extended reality (XR) such as augmented and virtual reality are being used, or suggested for use, in various settings and often focus on technical fields such as medicine, dentistry, and aviation. Here, we propose that XR can be used in public health education to better prepare both undergraduate and graduate trainees for real world, complex public health scenarios that require public engagement, investigative skills, and critical decision making. Several opportunities for XR use are outlined that provide perspective on how XR can supplement traditional classroom instruction methods by providing an immersive, participatory training environment. XR offers an opportunity for public health students to gain confidence, have repeated simulated exposures in a safe and equitable environment, and build competency in critical functions they will likely perform as future public health professionals.
技术已经改变了课堂和学习环境。从电子白板到平板电脑，教育工作者现在可以使用多种工具来增强学习体验。依赖扩展现实（XR）的教育技术，例如增强现实和虚拟现实，正在各种环境中得到应用，或者被提议用于各种环境，并且通常专注于医学、牙科和航空等技术领域。在这里，我们提出 XR 可以用于公共卫生教育，以更好地为本科生和研究生做好准备，以应对需要公众参与、调查技能和关键决策的现实世界中复杂的公共卫生场景。概述了一些 XR 使用的机会，这些机会提供了关于 XR 如何通过提供沉浸式、参与式的培训环境来补充传统课堂教学方法的视角。XR 为公共卫生学生提供了一个机会，使他们能够在安全和平等的环境中获得信心，多次模拟暴露，并在他们未来作为公共卫生专业人员可能执行的关键职能中建立能力。
