About
Overview
This effort will lay the foundation for a research center on Empathy Training using XR+AI. Empathy has been identified as a key attribute in high intensity community service provision, particularly in the context of deep social and cultural diversity. The project will scope the potentials of XR (Extended Reality) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies to support education and training for empathic communication. The combination of technologies we propose to explore are of wide applicability. However, in our initial work we will focus on two critical areas: health care and law enforcement.
The core team for this effort consists of renowned researchers at UIUC in their respective fields, bringing perspectives from education and curricular design, cultural competency, compassionate communication, human factors, empathy, industrial design, XR (Extended Reality, encompassing Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality), artificial intelligence (AI), human performance and skills training, medical training, and police training. The multidisciplinary team and transdisciplinary approach to address the urgent need for empathic communication in healthcare and law enforcement is novel and innovative, as well as timely in the current “empathy economy”. Our AI focus will draw on team members’ expertise in the development of Generative AI applications. The team also has deep domain expertise in the two proposed application domains where there is a critical need for empathy training: medical education and law enforcement.
The team held three workshops to: 1) explore and exchange current best practices in empathic communication and cultural competency; 2) define key challenges and identify and recalibrate AI tools (generative AI in particular) and XR for empathy training in workforce development, using healthcare and law enforcement as two distinct yet in some respects similar use cases; and 3) construct a roadmap for future research and development in the proposed Center.
Research Partners
The University of Illinois Police Training Institute (PTI) is one of the largest and longest running police academies in the United States. PTI instructors are on the leading edge in developing new and innovative strategic approached that enable peace officers to assist their communities in maintaining ordered and safe societies. PTI's academic research efforts are a critical part of their mission and focus on producing new and effective teaching methods to provide graduating officers with the knowledge and skills required for decision-making in an increasingly complex work environment. Based research, PTI employs both the Adult Learning Model and and Scenario-Based Training as these activity based models produce the best learner experience.
The Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CIMED) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the world's first engineering-based medical school. The curriculum is built at the intersection of engineering and medicine, with most courses designed by a team composed of a basic scientist, clinician, and engineer. The curriculum infuses basic science, clinical sciences, engineering and innovation, and medical humanities into all four years with a high value on patient-centered care, systems-based delivery, innovation and research, and clinical exposure. By leveraging engineering and advanced technology, doctors can provide more humanistic care for patients.
Future Work
Goals for the second phase of research funding are to:
- Develop a prototype of the XR+AI platform to support empathy training modules by creating 6 PTI simulation scenarios.
- Conduct a study to evaluate technology with PTI trainees.
- Observe PTI trainees in simulation scenarios to develop an empathy model.
- Conduct a study to evaluate training strategies and AI implementation.
- Add nurses to the research team.