Teaching with Holograms

Building the university
of the future

The IC Fellows Cohort is designed for instructors at CWRU who want to build their own mixed reality apps to use in class, under the mentorship of the IC and TLT. Participation is free and open to all CWRU faculty and staff.

The cohort covers a variety of topics about the transition to teaching in 3-D. Each IC Fellow will create a storyboard and class plan, which will ideally be fully developed and launched the following academic year.

IC Fellows Projects

Immersive Realms

IC Fellows Cohort 2023 ABOUT Elina Gertsman, PhD Distinguished University Professor + Acting ChairArt History + Art (CAS)Andrew W. Mellon...

Quantum Realm for Immersive Education (QuRIE)

IC Fellows Cohort 2023 ABOUT Shulei Zhang, PhD Associate ProfessorPhysics (CAS) Dr. Shulei Zhang teaches something that is not only...

Jaws At Work (JAW)

IC Fellows Cohort 2023 ABOUT T. Roma Jasinevicius, DDS, MEd Associate ProfessorComprehensive Care (SDM) As a long-time faculty member of...

Biophysical Modeling

IC Fellows Cohort 2023 ABOUT Debra McGivney, PhD Assistant Professor Biomedical Engineering (CSE / SOM) Dr. Debra McGivney teaches modeling...

HoloBridge Inspector (HoBI)

IC Fellows Cohort 2023 ABOUT Xiong (Bill) Yu, PhD Opal J. and Richard A. Vanderhoof Professor + Chair Civil Engineering...

SolidState

IC Fellows Cohort 2023 ABOUT Allison Hess-Dunning, PhD Adjunct Assistant Professor Electrical, Computer + Systems Engineering (CSE) Biomedical Engineering (CSE...

red blood cells and platelets flowing through vessel

BloodWork

IC Fellows Cohort 2023 ABOUT Anirban Sen Gupta, PhD Professor Biomedical Engineering (CSE / SOM) Member, Cancer Imaging ProgramCase Comprehensive...

econXplore

IC Fellows Cohort 2023 ABOUT Jenny Hawkins, PhD Associate ProfessorEconomics (WSM)Associate DeanUndergraduate and Integrated Studies Dr. Jenny Hawkins teaches an...

Physics Playground

IC Fellows Cohort 2022 ABOUT Michael Martens, PhD ProfessorPhysics (CAS) Dr. Michael Martens has been a longtime collaborator with the...

HoloPolymer

IC Fellows Cohort 2022 ABOUT Michael J. Hore, PhD Warren E. Rupp Associate ProfessorMacromolecular Science and Engineering (CSE) Dr. Hore's...

HoloMolecule

IC Fellows Cohort 2022 ABOUT Sudha Chakrapani, PhD John H. Hord Professor + ChairPharmacology (SOM) DirectorCleveland Center for Membrane +...

Creativity Engine

IC Fellows Cohort 2022 ABOUT Tiffany McNamara, MBA Senior DirectorSears think[box] Strategic Partnerships + Business DevelopmentAdjunct ProfessorHuman-centered design (WSM) In...

Sanctuary of the Great Gods at Samothrace

IC Fellows Cohort 2022 ABOUT Maggie Popkin, PhD Robson Junior ProfessorAssociate ProfessorArt History + Art (CAS) Dr. Maggie Popkin's research...

3-D DataViz

IC Fellows Cohort 2022 ABOUT Laura Bruckman, PhD Associate ProfessorMaterials Science & Engineering (CSE) In Dr. Bruckman's course, Data Visualization...

Planetary Toolbox

IC Fellows Cohort 2022 ABOUT Steven A. Hauck, II, PhD Professor and Chair Planetary Geodynamics (CAS) Professor Steven A. Hauck,...

3-D Symmetry

IC Fellows Cohort 2022 ABOUT Alp Sehirlioglu, PhD ProfessorMaterials Science + Engineering (CSE) Crystallography is the study of the atomic-level...

HoloUniversity
Classroom

The new HoloUniversity Classroom is now open at the Freedman Center Collaborative Commons at Kelvin Smith Library.

There are thirty-two dedicated HoloLens devices available in the HoloUniversity Classroom, as well as training for faculty and students by [U]Tech support team members.

Any CWRU instructor may reserve the HoloUniversity Classroom. To inquire, please send an email to holouniversity@case.edu with your request, and include the date, number of participants, and your department.

Take advantage of CWRU's homegrown holographic content, including HoloAnatomy® Software Suite, Antikythera Mechanism, Red Monastery, as well as other applications on the HoloLens App Store.

Book HoloUniversity Classroom

Grow your
idea

Here are some thoughts on the benefits of mixed reality as a teaching tool, and how to make a great class in MR.

Introductions: HoloLens and mixed reality

Mixed reality (MR): digital holographic content superimposed and anchored onto the real-world environment. Users continue to see the people and the room around them, the 3-D object(s), and remotely-connected users.

Microsoft's HoloLens: a standalone holographic computer that users wear on their heads to experience mixed reality. The transparent visor projects digital objects directly onto users' retinae to seamlessly blend the digital and analog fields of view.

What makes a great idea for a mixed reality class experience?

First, it's important to play to the technology's strengths. One of the most impactful features of mixed reality is its capacity to show the invisible (e.g., the structure of an atom, the subterranean environment of the Earth, or a building located thousands of miles away.)

Professor Mike Martens using mixed reality to teach electromagnetism.

Second, it's important for mixed reality classes to be shared experiences, where everyone sees the same thing in the same place at the same time. This allows for active and natural collaboration, discussion, and discovery — just like in a great, traditional learning environment.

Medical students using HoloAnatomy® Software at the CWRU SOM.

Third, this is an Active Learning tool, not a 3-D chalkboard. Mixed reality classes work best when students and instructors are together, standing up and moving around to explore the holograms’ breadth, depth, relationships, and interiors. Chairs should be pushed aside.

Dr. Martin Nweeia's Narwhal exhibit that was featured at the Smithsonian.

Professor Bolman, the chair of CWRU's Art History Department, was one of the first people in thousands of years to lay eyes upon the painted interior walls of the Red Monastery in Egypt. She led the effort to restore the 5th Century Coptic masterpiece, and then digitally preserved it. Click 'Learn More' to read about her mixed reality class.

The Red Monastery

Future
of learning

Connected. Accessible. Fast. Seamless. Physical. Interdisciplinary. Empathetic. Exploratory. Visual.

"Teaching with HoloLens was life transforming. It will be very, very hard for me to make do with traditional media, when teaching about buildings. We are at a moment where we are at the cusp of the democratization of art, and this technology enables us to share monuments of cultural heritage from around the world and have the experience be as genuine as seeing the original."