Before this semester (fall 2025), University of Miami junior Andrew Spradley had never experienced virtual reality (VR), but he was very familiar with studying muscles and bones for his anatomy and physiology classes using 2D slides or models of the human body.
Yet now, Spradley can turn on a Meta Quest headset and quiz himself using a movable, virtual human body that allows him to zoom in and out on bones and muscles that are tough to identify.
“Being able to visualize the body in virtual reality is really helpful, and it’s also very useful to see movements of the small muscles and holes in the skull through VR,” said Spradley, a junior studying exercise physiology, who is also premed. “It’s cool to use VR in a creative way like this, and I hope it will be used in medical school, too.”
He learned how to navigate the technology during an undergraduate anatomy course this fall taught by Daniel Serravite, a kinesiology lecturer in the School of Education and Human Development, who started integrating a virtual reality app called Virtual Medicine into his classes just a year ago with the help of the UMverse, a University-wide initiative to integrate extended reality into classes and innovations.
Last week, Serravite’s students reviewed for a midterm exam using the headsets to complete a 20-question quiz in VR. Then, they rotated through major body parts, such as the ear, eye, leg, and brain, with models placed around the room using another app, called Visible Body Suite, where they could scan physical models with their phone camera to check that they were correctly identifying bones, joints, or muscles.
Serravite said that using a variety of instructional approaches improves students’ engagement with science-based content like anatomy, by immersing them in the material. And in a research study, Serravite found that using the VR models in his class is just as effective as the physical ones for reviewing hundreds of anatomical terms.
“All my students have responded positively to the use of virtual reality, resulting in increased engagement,” Serravite added. “This technology allows students to have more exposure and individual contact time with the anatomical models, maximizing learning opportunities in the classroom. This helps them retain the material and fosters a more meaningful educational experience.”
And more than 50 courses at the University are integrating extended reality, or have already done so through the Virtual Reality Learning Initiative, said Tom Merrick, senior project manager of XR initiatives and assistant director of the UMverse.
But Merrick hopes that even more University faculty members and students will take advantage of the technology now. Toward that goal, the UMverse has invested in hundreds of headsets, which students and faculty members can check out through the XR Community Lab on the third floor of the Otto G. Richter Library. Five classes are using them this semester, but there are still more available, and Merrick is eager to work with faculty members on the best ways to utilize XR in their classes.
“We know this technology increases student engagement in a big way,” Merrick said. “So, if you’re a faculty member interested in using XR in your class, I can walk you through anything you want to see. And if you can devote one class period to utilizing the technology, I can run a short activity that targets some of the toughest concepts to teach, or a topic you want to bring to life to help increase student engagement.”
The UMverse has already helped to create a course that challenged students to explore and build sacred religious spaces in virtual reality, which is offered again this spring. In addition, UMverse faculty and staff members have helped School of Architecture instructors to offer classes where students designed a future VR downtown Miami, designed ophthalmology classes that train medical students at the Miller School of Medicine, and last fall, they launched a new art history class that teleported students to some of the great wonders of the world.
“Imagine taking your syllabus and walking through it in three dimensions,” Merrick said. “With subjects like art history or science, you can do that in virtual reality.”
To learn more about utilizing XR technology in your classes, contact Tom Merrick at txm2025@miami.edu, or visit the XR Community Lab on the third floor of Richter Library. To check out headsets from the XR Community Lab, students or faculty members may contact Phuong Dang at pxd467@miami.edu or Vanessa Rodriguez, vrodrigu@miami.edu in the library.
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SOURCE: NEWS@TheU Story “Taking Student Learning to New Heights” by Janette Neuwahl Tannen, October 23, 2025
HEADER IMAGE: A view of the Virtual Medicine application that students in Daniel Serravite’s anatomy class are using to learn the hundreds of bones and muscles in the human body. Image courtesy of Human Anatomy VR from Virtual Medicine.
