SimMed: combining simulation and interactive tabletops for medical education.

A large body of work asserts that interactive tabletops are well suited for group work, and numerous studies have examined these devices in educational contexts. However, few of the described systems support simulations for collaborative learning, and none of them explicitly address immersion. We present SimMed, a system allowing medical students to collaboratively diagnose and treat a virtual patient using an interactive tabletop. The hybrid user interface combines elements of virtual reality with multitouch input. The paper delineates the development process of the system and rationale behind a range of interface design decisions. Thereby, the role of realism in gaining procedural knowledge is discussed - in particular, the interplay between realism, immersion and training goals. We implemented several medical test cases and evaluated our approach with a user study that suggests the great potential of the system. Results show a high level of immersion, cooperation and engagement by the students.