Episode Summary:

Bill Ballo, Manager of the Madison College XR Center, provides a comprehensive update on the center’s explosive growth, scaling from 3 to 31 academic programs in under two years. He details the journey from a “wild west” beginning with two laptops to a fully operational innovation hub, emphasizing that the key to success is investing in dedicated personnel. Bill shares his methods for measuring ROI, the critical role of the physical lab space for debriefing, and how VR’s greatest strength is teaching the hardest skill: critical thinking.

Highlights:

• The XR Center grew from supporting 3 programs to 31 in less than two years, becoming a central innovation hub for the entire college.
• Bill’s number one piece of advice for new programs is: “If you’re making the investment in VR, make the investment in personnel. Get a person.”
• Success is measured by tracking student hours in-headset and using qualitative surveys that show students feel they can “relax more” and have better retention compared to traditional simulation.
• The program started with a minimal investment (a couple of laptops carried in a backpack) and built momentum through grant funding and demonstrating value.
• VR is used not just for full simulations but also to create more impactful and memorable lectures, such as the vet tech program using it to demonstrate complex anatomy.
• Acadicus is the foundational “go-to” platform that can always be relied upon to impress stakeholders and demonstrate the potential of VR.

Topics Covered:

• The journey of scaling an XR program from pilot to a college-wide service.
• The critical role and responsibilities of a dedicated XR Manager.
• Measuring ROI and success through student usage hours and qualitative feedback.
• The importance of a physical lab with a debriefing space.
• Starting a VR program with minimal resources and building momentum.
• Using VR to teach critical thinking skills.
• Leveraging VR to enhance traditional lectures and improve student engagement.
• The power of VR to enable remote collaboration and instruction across geographic boundaries.

Quotes:

“If there’s any advice starting off that I have for people is if you’re making the investment in VR, make the investment in personnel. Make the investment in a person. Get a person.”

“I can always do something in Acadicus that will impress someone enough to get them interested in what we can do in virtual reality.”

“Almost every student I get the feedback of, ‘we like this better.’ And I go, why why do you like this better?… They’re like, ‘Yeah, but we didn’t feel we’ve been stared at. We felt we could relax more and do the things that we were supposed to do…'”

“VR is good for the thing that’s the hardest to teach. And I hear this from everybody, critical thinking.”

“You are the expert. And so you bring something like this into your classroom and you have an asset that really makes your lecture impactful, your students will remember it. They’ll walk out of there and they’ll remember everything you said.”

“I had one laptop from the college… When I would do these things, I would carry two laptops with me. I had my backpack on front, my backpack on my back, and I would walk in with my two laptops, and then I would just find an area… where nobody was going to be.”

Featured Content:

• Heart Model: The initial asset that demonstrated the platform’s value for Bill’s cardiology class.
• Birthing Mannequin Scenario: Used for nursing and OB simulation.
• Cardiac Arrest Scenario: Used for EMS training, focusing on critical thinking.
• Dental Scenario: A custom-built scenario inspired by Chippewa Valley Technical College, with an added cardiac arrest component.
• Cow & Horse Cadaver Models: Used by the Vet Tech program to enhance anatomy lectures.
• Wound Care Scenario: Mentioned as being used to teach an instructor in Denmark remotely.
• General Patient Models & Hospital Beds: Used for various medical simulations.