From the nursing building, recently named McNeill Hall, to the education building to King Hall, UNCW students in a variety of majors now have the opportunity to interact with cutting-edge technology.

When the nursing program moved from Friday Annex to the newly built McNeill Hall, it upgraded from one lab and 1,000 square feet of space to eight labs and 10,000 square feet according to Anne Zabriskie, coordinator of simulation learning.

The labs are inhabited by low, medium and high fidelity mannequins that can mimic bodily functions. The high fidelity mannequins, priced at $86,000, have vocal sounds so they can speak to students, palpable pulses and chests that rise and fall. They can blink, perspire, have seizures, and some units can even give birth.

In the simulation labs, students practice clinical scenarios in small groups. Each student is assigned a role, and sometimes a student will even act as a visiting family member. Faculty control the mannequin’s physiological parameters using a laptop and watch the situation from an observation room. High definition cameras and sound equipment capture video and audio footage of the lab so that the teachers can later play it back on a flat screen and debrief the students, explaining what they did wrong or right.

“During the scenario faculty are assessing communication skills, some skill performance, but mostly critical thinking and problem solving,” said Zabriskie.

The mannequins’ software includes 20 to 30 standardized scenarios but also allows faculty to create their own. Students may need to administer medication, call the physician or the lab, or respond to a code situation.

Feeling the thready pulse of SimMan 3G, one of the high fidelity mannequins, and watching the unnervingly realistic rise and fall of his chest, students are mentally transported to a real-life clinical environment.

“We have students leave the lab crying because they killed a patient. After six seconds in the lab, the mannequin becomes very real,” said Zabriskie.

In addition to the mannequins, students also have access to an electronic medical records database, a project that the School of Nursing collaborated on with the Computer Information Systems department. The labs also contain real medical equipment as well as simulated medications, blood and I.V. bags.

Lindsay Futrell, a simulation lab consultant for UNCW’s School of Nursing, says UNCW’s simulation technology surpasses that of even the most prestigious universities in North Carolina like Duke and Chapel Hill. “[They] didn’t have what I’d expect a university of that caliber to have,” said Futrell. “Duke only had one room with mannequins.”

Beyond the medical field, UNCW is investing in other technologies to improve the quality of the learning experience for students.

During the summer, King Hall room 203 and Watson room 368 were transformed into telepresence classrooms. In King 203, three large high-definition screens broadcast clients that are dialed in to the state-of-the-art video conferencing center, while three additional screens display content such as websites, Word documents or PowerPoint presentations. Cameras and microphones in the telepresence room transport students digitally into the connecting classroom.

Since King 203 opened very recently in July, it is not booked with classes this semester, though Watson’s telepresence room is being used exclusively for education classes and is therefore already in use.

“There are plans for next semester to open [King 203] up to different departments,” said Network Analyst Dan Noonan. “Academic classes take first priority, but it can also be used for meetings or research.”

The only users of the room currently are two students who are studying Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace in a class taught at NC State University.

“We can’t go to office hours, but otherwise it’s helpful because it allows for a smaller class size,” said one of the students, UNCW senior Sarah Onyshko. “With 30 students in a class it’s chaotic, and you can’t get the attention that you want.”

One of the major advantages of a telepresence system is its low cost. Cisco, the manufacturer, offers an educational discount, and all UNC system schools have bought into the technology collectively. The combination of these factors means the price of a state-of-the-art telepresence room is comparable to that of a traditional distance education classroom.

Former Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo nicknamed the technology “Skype on steroids,” said Leah Kraus.