MetaNODES: A Virtual Reality-Based Approach to Intelligent Neuro-Ophthalmology Education

Virtual Reality (VR), as the technological cornerstone of the metaverse, has attracted much attention in the digital transformation of medical education. In the medical education of ophthalmology, teaching neuro-ophthalmologic disease diagnosis is considered crucial but challenging due to its complex principles of neurology and anatomy. Leveraging its high interactivity and immersion, the VR can turn the conventional and difficult learning process to gain professional neuro-ophthalmologic knowledge into an intuitive experience with explainable physiological and anatomical features. Inspired by this idea, this paper presented the Metaverse Neuro-Ophthalmologic Disorder Education System (MetaNODES), a VR-based intelligent pedagogical solution for neuro-ophthalmology education deployed on Meta’s Oculus Quest 2. The Unity game engine was adopted to replicate the realistic clinical diagnostic process of various neuro-ophthalmologic disorders. Under the guidance of professional ophthalmology experts, our team designed a quantitative visualization model for sophisticated gaze direction, face morph, and the body motion control of a VR patient to reproduce the real-time symptom responses based on the user interface (UI) operation and motion state change of the Quest controller. Dedicated scenario modes were carefully designed and implemented for the precision of the clinical manifestations as well as the hardware characteristics of the VR device. The evaluation conducted on a group of students revealed that the MetaNODES system can assist them to better appreciate the apparent symptoms and comprehending the underlying mechanisms with a deeper engagement. To the best of our knowledge, the MetaNODES system is a pioneering effort to integrate VR into neuro-ophthalmology education. It initiated a fundamental framework of leveraging common VR devices to deploy Metaverse to ophthalmology education in online learning environments.