Criminology meets nursing simulated technology: taking blended learning in new directions

This article presents an innovative approach to blended learning that integrates criminology and nursing pedagogy in a higher educational institution. It explores a Crime Scene Investigation module from a criminology undergraduate degree programme that used an Anatomage table, a life-size high-resolution tool used in the nursing degree courses, that allows students to have digital interactions with human cadavers. A murder victim, investigated by the students during this module, was aligned with one of the five digitised cadavers from the Anatomage table. Within the module presented in this article, the students investigated a staged crime scene of a murder victim with stab wounds. They then attended a simulation laboratory to explore the anatomical structures below each stab wound, enabling them to identify the fatal incision. The activity was designed to develop critical thinking, forensic interpretation, and real-world problem solving by using pedagogical approaches such as contingency, fading, and scaffolding. This scoping case study demonstrates the potential of cross-disciplinary pedagogical innovations and how diversifying the use of technologies can enhance the student experience through blended learning approaches. It does not provide formal data collection but highlights potential for future empirical research.