You’ve joined a climbing expedition to summit the world’s tallest mountain. The team of climbers are wrestling with pressing ahead as they face illness and nasty weather. The team discusses options, and the decision goes to you — do you remain back with a sick climber, or press ahead to the peak?
As a learner in the Leadership for Healthcare Professionals open online course series, you watch this scenario unfold in an elaborate video production, complete with a backdrop of bright yellow and red tents, howling winds and snow-covered boulders.
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The Mount Everest extended reality production was designed to immerse learners in an unfamiliar and challenging situation, which longtime School of Nursing faculty members Michelle Aebersold and Barbara Medvec knew would appeal to healthcare professionals.
“Nurses are innovators by their nature, because you don’t always have everything at your fingertips,” said Medvec, clinical associate professor at the School of Nursing. “So they critically think. They look at the whole patient, the whole situation and how they can get things done innovatively.”
Engaged learning benefits healthcare learners
The Leadership for Healthcare Professionals series features multiple immersive activities designed to teach critical thinking, effective communication and quality improvement to healthcare workers who want to grow their leadership skills.
Knowing the many benefits of engaged learning, Aebersold and Medvec created their first massive open online course with an unusually high number of activities for their healthcare learners.
“When we look at good patient care, learning through rote memorization is not the best way to do it,” said Aebersold, clinical professor of nursing in the School of Nursing and clinical associate professor of information in the School of Information. “But engaged learning is.”
Aebersold and Medvec connected with the Center for Academic Innovation to help recreate an Everest expedition, an activity they have used in residential classes.
Tapping into the center’s expertise in XR, generative AI and virtual production, they built a unique and immersive experience for learners. Both Aebersold and Medvec acknowledge that designing simulations and virtual activities is daunting. However, they found they could realize their vision faster in collaboration with the center team, designing engaging scenarios that connect learners to the course material better than a standard lecture.
Simulations provide safe space to learn
Engaged learning is not only a dynamic way to learn but also allows students to apply newfound knowledge in a safe setting, where they can make mistakes and learn from those experiences.
For example, in the second course in the series, learners are tasked with redesigning a hospital room to better serve patients and their families. The exercise wouldn’t be possible in real life, but using an interactive experience allows students to test different layouts.
The third course in the series incorporates Lean Six Sigma methodologies, which strive to reduce waste and improve efficiency, through an activity where learners have five minutes to reassemble Mr. Potato Head toys involved in a bus accident.
“Simulation is kind of a sweet spot for us, because you can use immersive technology and you’re in the situation,” Medvec said. “You can practice how you’re going to react in that situation and navigate that in a way that is highly professional, highly competent and comfortable.”
The skillset is not always covered in clinical instruction, but the importance of learning how to make quick, effective and accurate decisions has only increased in today’s medical arena. The instructors wanted to offer several simulations and activities for the online learners to drive home key leadership lessons and meet the demand of nurses and healthcare workers who want impactful instruction that fits into a busy schedule.
“I think our learners are a little bit more discerning,” Aebersold said. “They have a hunger for knowledge and want to get into some of these fields, but don’t have access or the ability to do a whole master’s program.”
Leadership for Healthcare Professionals is available on Coursera, and U-M students, faculty, staff and alumni can enroll through Michigan Online to take the course series for free.
