Treat of the Day: Blinn College District receives $25,000 donation to help expand use of VR technology - KBTX

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) -The Blinn College District received a $25,000 donation to assistance grow its usage of VR technology.

The donation came from Bill Thienes of Brenham, a retired petroleum technologist who antecedently talented 2 endowed scholarships to the Blinn College Foundation.

The donation volition beryllium utilized to found a VR simulation programme that volition complement Blinn’s extended healthcare simulation programs.

“This is our aviator project,” said Karla Ross, Associate Degree Nursing Program Director. “We volition get the instrumentality we need, integrate it into our simulation center, and past commencement adding the bundle and measure however it integrates with our curriculum. We are precise excited.”

Thienes decided to marque the donation to Blinn aft researching VR and learning astir its grooming possibilities successful the aesculapian field.

“When I toured the nurses grooming facilities astatine Blinn, I was amazed and I wondered what could beryllium next,” Thienes said. “The ‘next’ is virtual reality. VR is truly going to assistance prevention lives. I’m conscionable truthful blessed I tin bash this for Blinn and assistance it get the VR instrumentality and bundle for its nursing programs.”

Ross said VR tin beryllium a tremendous teaching tool.

“It’s similar you are there,” she said. “You enactment connected the headset and person joysticks which let you to behaviour assessments. In medicine, they adjacent signifier surgeries utilizing VR. You conscionable enactment connected a headset and you are immersed successful that world. Students not lone get to signifier thing that they wouldn’t get to bash otherwise, but if they didn’t bash good the archetypal time, they tin bash it again and again until they get it right.”

Dean of Health Sciences Michelle Trubenstein said she hopes to grow the usage of VR passim the division.

“We are starting with nursing, but I spot it being utilized successful each our different programs arsenic well,” she said.

Copyright 2022 KBTX. All rights reserved.