Dr. Lorenz S. Neuwirth from the Department of Psychology recently gave a keynote presentation at the CUNY 9th Annual Faculty Development Retreat at Queensborough Community Colleges. Dr. Neuwirth’s keynote “Reimagining Higher Education During And Post-COVID-19: Challenges And Opportunities” presented the early work that was published with his Department of Psychology colleagues, Drs. B. Runi Mukherji and Svetlana Jović.
The research highlights information from their article “Reimagining Higher Education During And Post-COVID-19: Challenges And Opportunities,” which since its first publication online in 2020 has nearly 30,000 downloads and 300 citations attesting to its impact in the field.
Dr. Neuwirth stated, “The challenges that faculty continue to face in an austere financial climate, coupled with low resources, and a very competitive grant market make planning more worrisome, but given creative cost effective solutions such as virtual reality and 3D-printing open software and hardware solutions to make your own research equipment, there may be clear pathways to overcome these challenges.”
A few examples Dr. Neuwirth highlighted during his presentation were “Increasing Global Awareness of Timely COVID-19 Healthcare Guidelines Through FPV Training tutorials: Portable Public Health Crises Teaching Method” and “Comparisons Between First Person Point-of-View 180° Video Virtual Reality Head-Mounted Display and 3D Video Computer Display in Teaching Undergraduate Neuroscience Students Stereotaxic Surgeries” as two illustrations of innovative pedagogy with virtual reality. These examples show unique ways to bring students to a real-context (i.e., not a cartoon animation or avatar like experience) of a learning environment (i.e., hospital emergency room or college research lab) to teach students within a short period of time on what behavioral procedures they will need to gain competency and proficiency in to master the curriculum.