Description of seminar

The Virtual Environment for Radiotherapy Training (VERT) software provides a realistic virtual environment of a radiotherapy treatment room. When coupled with a suitable stereo projection system, it provides a life size model of the treatment room, which demonstrates many of the capabilities of the real machines and accessories. VERT has been specifically designed as an educational and skills training tool. It has numerous facilities that make learning more effective and enjoyable for students.

VERT is a useful supplement to conventional training, and offers a number of advantages:

•  VERT is cost effective because training on real Linacs is very expensive.
•  Students have unlimited practice without risking harm to patient or equipment.
• Clinical technique and realistic clinical experience can be gained outside the clinic.
• Radiotherapy treatment rooms become more efficient by reducing training
  demands.
•  The VERT treatment room provides a realistic insight into the experience of using the equipment, but without the stress of being in a clinic.
• Visualization is a powerful aid for showing plans, anatomy, dose distributions etc.

The Physics module is designed to provide a variety of simulated Physics and QA equipment which can be used to assist in teaching the basic principles and practice of radiation physics. The simulated equipment is fully interactive, allowing students to gain hands on experience in a realistic environment. The ability to vary parameters (such as field size, depth of chamber in water) makes it possible to conduct virtual experiments, and to record and (in the case of the plotting tank) to produce graphs of the results.

This presentation will be a 2D demonstration of how the software package is used for student recruitment (e.g. at Open Days) and as an educational tool (teaching general Anatomy, Radiation Therapy practice and Physics concepts).

 To book your place please use our online booking system.

Facilitators: Kayla Lawson, Microbiology, Sam Adams, Industrial Psychology, Stellenbosch University and Simone Titus, Sports Sciences, University of Western Cape

Date and location: 20^th of April 2017, 13.30-15.30, lab303, IT Centre, Bellville

Seminar description:

Globally and locally the term ‘gamification’ has been discussed for a number of years now. ‘Gamification’ refers to process of taking something that already exists such as a university course curriculum – and integrating game mechanics into it to motivate participation, engagement, and learning. Such game mechanics could be point systems, graduated challenges (game levels) or score boards.  Assignments are called adventures, battles, and quests. Each activity earns experience points — a hundred thousand at a time — and students’ grades depend on their final scores. The classes differ from traditional courses in that students have more choice in the assignments they complete; they can work at a flexible pace; and some assignments can be resubmitted until their maximum scores are reached.

This seminar will introduce three  lecturers’ attempts at ‘gamifying’ their teaching: Kayla Lawson, a MSc research student and part-time Teaching Assistant in the Department of Microbiology and Sam Adams, a lecturer in the Department of Industrial Psychology, both at Stellenbosch and  Dr Simone Titus, a  sport science lecturer at UWC.

Kayla will reflect on an e-tutor programme she designed to respond to the challenges of increased class sizes, which leads to tutoring becoming more expensive and  less accessible to students at risk.  The e-tutor programme uses concepts of gamification to teach the basics of Microbiology. The e-tutor program is easy to run, monitor, and use.  Setting up the game on the institutional Moodle platform can cause some level of difficulty, but once the structure is in place, it is easy to modify.  The e-tutor was tested in 2016 on a first-year sub module in Biology and received positive and insightful feedback from students.  We believe that this played an integral part in student success rate, and contributed to the positive learning experience of students.

Sam will talk about development of a gamified learning platform in an undergraduate Industrial Psychology module. The learning management system (SUNLearn) served as the platform for the game titled: OT Tycoon. Several learning activities were  gamified through the inclusion of a number of game elements  The presentation will firstly outline how gamification principles were applied and secondly report on the lived experiences of the students that were exposed to this gamified LMS.

Simone designed a digital game as a teaching tool aimed getting students to produce knowledge and ideas in the diverse classroom. While having fun, digital games allowed for active engagement and interaction in the classroom.

All three presenters will share their experiences with gamification followed by a discussion how lecturers at CPUT could use digital games in their teaching and learning.

To book your place please use our online booking system.