Today, we speak with Siân Shaw, associate professor of digital innovation in nursing at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU). Originally a nurse by profession, and an innovative thinker by heart, she took a unique approach to educate the nursing students at ARU with the help of VEED AI. Let’s dive into the role VEED played in this journey of hers.
Challenge
The Nursing and Midwifery Council in the UK requires nursing students to complete 2,300 hours of clinical practice over 3 years. During the pandemic, the council allowed institutions to replace up to 300 hours with virtual simulated practice, which later increased to 600 hours after the pandemic.
ARU is approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council to use simulations towards their practice hours (also known as placement hours). When designing “Ruskin Row”, which is a 2-week placement for student nurses in their first year, Shaw made sure that it met the requirements stipulated by the council.
That said, it didn’t come without some challenges:
- Effort Required to Produce Simulations: it would take a lot of time and effort to hire actors to play the roles in these simulations. For this purpose, Shaw started looking into using AI avatars, however…
- The AI Platforms Were Too Complex: she found most platforms difficult to use, with some even requiring coding skills.
- Most AI Avatars Seemed Cartoonish: Shaw thought that the avatars offered by other platforms didn’t look or sound natural enough for the type of videos she wanted to create.
“I wanted something that's not cartoonish. I also wanted different accents, voices, and characters. I did have a look at different platforms, but VEED’s voices sounded more authentic.”
Siân Shaw, Associate Professor of Digital Innovation in Nursing, Anglia Ruskin University
Solution
Shaw required a user-friendly platform that offered a diverse range of realistic-looking avatars. After some research, she discovered VEED, and things clicked.
Here’s how VEED helped:
- Simplicity: VEED is a highly-intuitive platform that allowed Shaw to create videos featuring AI avatars with just a few clicks.
- Better Videos: Shaw was able to make professional-looking videos with realistic avatars and a diverse range of voices.
- More Impact: Shaw made the videos more engaging and relatable by using VEED’s extensive stock assets, such as sound effects, and the voiceover feature.
Here is a sample video, going over the tripping hazards for a dementia patient.
“I want avatars that are really easy to create. You don't need any training to use VEED.”
Siân Shaw, Associate Professor of Digital Innovation in Nursing, Anglia Ruskin University
Results
Thanks to VEED, ARU was able to achieve the following results in their September 2023 cohort:
- Teach 850 nursing students
- Produce 10 days’ worth of training content
- Improve student engagement
"We ran with 850 students online. It was 10 days' worth of teaching material that ran over 4 weeks."
Siân Shaw, Associate Professor of Digital Innovation in Nursing, Anglia Ruskin University
So what does this look like for ARU?
It means they’re able to produce these virtual simulations without requiring them to hire actors. They can also make their simulations more engaging and professional with realistic-looking avatars, diverse voices, and sound effects offered by VEED. And they can do all of this, in a highly intuitive platform that does not require any training.
According to Shaw, she couldn’t have done it without VEED. The simulations were a resounding success, and they plan on continuing to use them to train future cohorts of students as well.
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