McMaster creates new VR anatomy app

This fall, McMaster University students are using a new, virtual reality app to hone their anatomy expertise outside of the classroom.

A savvy group of professors and students at the university worked together to create the app, called MacAnatomy Virtual Reality Bell Ringer, or MacAnatomy VRBR for short.

The app uses a Google Cardboard virtual reality headset to deliver stereoscopic 3D images that serve as the basis for practice questions for undergraduate anatomy and physiology students.

“One of the major challenges of our course is the bell ringer exam, where students sit down in front of a real dissection and identify what it is and what its function is,” said Bruce Wainman, professor of pathology and molecular medicine and director of the McMaster Education Program in Anatomy. “The exam can be difficult, but this app gives students the ability to learn when and where they want to, in a very cool way.”

While the app – created by Josh Mitchell, a software engineering student in his final year of studies, and Anthony Saraco, a master’s student in the Faculty of Health Sciences – is brand new, the images featured within are anything but.

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