Leadership, faculty and IT staff of the UNMC College of Dentistry visited the UNMC Omaha campus in June, receiving demonstrations of the technology available at the iEXCEL Visualization Hub and touring the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.
The college will soon have its own iWall on its campus in Lincoln.
Dean Janet Guthmiller, D.D.S., Ph.D., said the trip was meant to introduce faculty and staff to educational technology available at UNMC.
“Not only what we will have at the Global Center, but also what we’ll be able to introduce at the College of Dentistry, and how we’ll be able to connect to the global center,” Dr. Guthmiller said.
MaryLu Steube, director of information systems for the college, was among the group.
“We have faculty who are very interested in the technology, in making their classes more interactive and getting the students more involved,” Steube said.
Twenty members of the college’s faculty and staff took part in the tour, testing out not only the multitaction wall, but also viewing UNMC’s 3D learning and simulation technologies.
“The tour will help the faculty understand interactive learning and the possibilities of the wall,” said Ann Alexander, education technology director for the college. “I’m very excited.”
Dr. Guthmiller said it had been helpful for faculty to have hands-on experience of the new technologies.
“People are excited about it, but there’s still a lot that’s unknown. I think our students will help us adopt the technology and challenge us to really get on board with the technology.”
Faculty member Meenakshi Vishwanath, assistant professor of growth and development, said she enjoyed the tour immensely.
“I had heard a lot about the simulation,” she said. “Between the visualization hub and the cancer center – when I saw an opportunity to tour both, I just jumped at it.”