Home to billions of neurons and trillions of synapses, the brain is the most complex organ in the body, and the engine orchestrating all of human survival — responsible for every vital breath and heartbeat that keeps us alive.
But visualizing all the arteries, nerves, and tracts deep beneath the surface is difficult, which is why faculty members in the Division of Occupational Therapy at Binghamton University’s Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences are bringing new, innovative virtual-reality technology into their classrooms to challenge conventional teaching and learning methods.
Xue “Danny” Deng, an assistant professor of OT who joined the University in 2024, is one of the driving forces behind VR integration at Decker. A tool currently being adopted in medical schools across the country to train physicians, VR had yet to be used to teach anatomy in Binghamton’s OT programs, until Deng proposed it.
“We want to embrace these changes and see how we could best make them, embed them in innovative teachings, and then navigate this advancement in technology in a way that best benefits our students, who are our primary focus,” says Deng, who previously experimented with VR during his time as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hong Kong.
“We want them to learn well, not just to memorize, but be able to apply the knowledge they use, shine out there for Binghamton, and represent it when they graduate and start their jobs,” he says.
Since spring 2025, Deng and his colleagues have incorporated VR technology into the Neuroscience of Behavior course to introduce students to the mechanisms of the nervous system that drive human behavior. How we move, feel, and think is controlled by the brain.
As future occupational therapists, students are expected to build foundational knowledge of neuroanatomical and neurophysiological concepts, connect what they learn to real-world issues, and strengthen their clinical reasoning skills. VR is especially useful for helping students move beyond memorization by showing how these patterns translate into real patient conditions, such as strokes, spinal cord injuries, and dementia.
“Learning that a patient has right-side hemiplegia is one thing,” explains Cristina Dumitrescu, assistant professor and director of the OT division. “But when students experience it in a three-dimensional context, it transforms their understanding into a powerful ‘aha’ moment.”
At Decker, VR is an immersive, self-paced 3D learning experience. Working in pairs, students take turns strapping on headsets to interact with a virtual brain by rotating structures, zooming in and out, and amplifying tiny components — it’s something that is hard to grasp in two-dimensional diagrams, static charts, or plastic models alone. It also offers a more scalable and accessible alternative to the maintenance and ethical concerns of a full human cadaver lab, while still providing high-quality anatomical education.
“I had never seen virtual reality used in this way before Danny introduced it to me, but I think seeing it firsthand, the benefits were evident,” says Alex Orkwis, clinical assistant professor of OT. “It was quick to see how powerful and impactful it could be, but I think that it was also inspiring to be a part of this project, to try and help break down some of the stigmas behind the technology side of it.”
While Decker strives to embrace forward-thinking technology and enhance students’ understanding of the material, Deng emphasizes that VR is not a replacement for traditional textbooks but a complementary tool that helps students understand what they can’t always see.
“For the pieces of brain structures, from superficial to deeper brain tissues, VR fits best, and it can overcome some limitations of the physical brain model that we are now using,” Deng says. “When it comes to very small brain structures, deeper inside, it would be very difficult to dissect or navigate. However, relying on the VR context, it can be very easy to identify it.”
Still in the exploratory stage, the expansion of this technology depends on the digital literacy of faculty members who are trained to use VR effectively and to teach others to do so. Despite the investment, Dumitrescu, Orkwis, and Deng anticipate a larger shift in the coming years, with VR becoming increasingly prominent across both academic and clinical settings, changing the way practitioners understand and help patients heal.
“There’s certainly so much potential for it, and it’s kind of exciting to see that it’s just the starting point,” says Orkwis, who envisions applications across other healthcare professions like physical therapy and nursing.
Following the integration of VR in the classroom, OT faculty report enhanced student engagement and motivation, prompting learners to become more confident, adaptable, and effective practitioners.
“We are committed to continuous growth; our guiding principle is to always level up,” Dumitrescu adds. “This means staying current with emerging evidence-based teaching strategies, maintaining relevance, and intentionally cultivating curiosity in our teaching. Our goal is to position Binghamton’s OT division as a leader in occupational therapy education through innovative and forward-thinking teaching strategies.”
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