NWSCC unveils new Virtual Reality Lab
Virtual is becoming more like reality at Northwest Shoals Community College.
NWSCC unveiled its new Virtual Reality Lab with an open house on Oct. 9.
The event was hosted by the College’s Distance Education and Information Technology (IT) departments and gave visitors a chance to see what virtual reality has to offer in a learning environment.
“This is something we have never had on campus before,” said Dr. Shelby Luna, director of distance education and information technologies. “We are hoping to get faculty, staff, student and community buy in so we can hopefully show the new technologies we have featured in our lab. We definitely want to help students with the hands-on side of things and careers they are pursuing here. We want to help the instructors have optional curriculum materials.”
According to a release on the event, the Virtual Reality Lab is designed to provide supplemental simulation opportunities across multiple disciplines. Equipped with Meta Quest devices, the lab will feature apps tailored for many of the College’s programs, including Career Technical (automotive, welding, carpentry, drafting and design, and more), Health Studies and additional fields as they become available.
“In our lab, we have several apps that individual departments can come in and test out,” Luna said. “For example, we have the VRPatients app. That is an emergency medical training simulator. Students will be able to look at techniques and things they are going to see out in the field.”
Visitors to the open house were able to put on a VR headset and take a look at a number of programs, from simulations of construction sites and a virtual tour through a butterfly exhibit to the aforementioned medical app.
“We believe this lab will be such an asset to departments across campus, providing students with opportunities to gain hands-on experience in the fields they are pursuing,” said Dr. Christy Shepard, NWSCC Dean of Instructional Technology/Information Systems. “We look forward to working with faculty, staff, students, and the community by offering this experience and sparking greater interest in the technology available on our campus.”
Luna said not only are the VR headsets something professors may use to enhance their curriculum, they should also prove to be capable recruitment tools for prospective students.
The NWSCC Virtual Reality Lab has 50 headsets, meaning an entire class can be using them at once.
“A lot of the apps we’ve found do test careers,” she said. “Students are able to test out different departments we have on campus to help see what they are truly interested in. We have talked to several departments today like Talent Search and Upward Bound. They have asked about career tools and search tools for students to participate in.”
Luna said Shepard has had the goal of a VR lab since joining NWSCC, and it took about a year of dedicated effort to make the teaching and recruitment aid a reality.
“This has been an absolute wonder,” Luna said. “Having all of our colleagues come out and have students come in and play around with them. It really does feel like a community event. We are very excited.”
