DALLAS,TX, March, 2021
Today, Parker University announced a new partnership and technology initiative that firmly establishes the university as a leader in educational technology among any college or university chiropractic program worldwide. The partnership includes working with Touch of Life Technologies (Toltech) to deploy their Sectra 65-inch instructor touch table, four Ideum Colossus 86-inch touch tables, Sectra Education Portal software, and VH Dissector software. These solutions will enhance both in-classroom and distance teaching and learning well beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, making it possible to conduct sophisticated, hands-on lab instruction that provides realistic learning experiences for students in anatomy and related classes.
Built on real anatomy from the Visible Human Project®, the VH Dissector software provides the necessary reference atlas allowing students to visualize and interact with more than 2,000 structures in 3D and cross-sectional views. Dr. Jay Ferguson, DC, Assistant Professor of Basic Sciences in the College of Chiropractic at Parker University, says, “For a first-trimester doctorate student, visualizing anatomy in a 3D environment can be challenging, especially when it comes to muscles, nerve supply, and blood supply. The VH Dissector allows these students to get a sense of what these structures look like in reality and is a great complement to our existing gross anatomy lab, anatomical images, and anatomical models. This provides students with another tool to translate the body from two dimensions to three dimensions. I enjoy being able to quickly show my students structures using the anatomy search tool, the dissection guides, that quickly isolate structures for easy viewing, as well as the palpation guide which prepares them for future courses.”
The Sectra Education Portal brings clinical-grade imaging into the anatomical education environment. It quickly and directly imports Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) studies for automatic display in 2D and 3D. Built-in presets allow instructors and students to instantly visualize air, skin, soft tissue, contrast-injected vasculature, bone, or surgical interventions. Views can be customized even further for unique visualizations of CT and MRI datasets.
The five touch tables offer a simple tactile interface that uses intuitive hand gestures, multiple touchpoints, and easy-to-share tools so groups can learn anatomy and explore clinical cases as a team. The touch tables are located in Parker University’s newly renovated anatomy resource lab and available for faculty and students to download. Instructors can multicast their lectures using live visualizations in the laboratory or online, and they can create interactive lessons for asynchronous remote viewing. Students receive individualized licenses of both the VH Dissector and Sectra Education Portal at no additional cost to support ongoing study throughout the academic and clinical curriculum at Parker University and for use in preparation for national board examinations.
“We’re excited to work with Parker on advancing the future of chiropractic education and enabling students to access these resources for anatomical studies,” says Greg Spitzer, COO of Toltech.
Parker University Leadership with Educational Technology
“When the pandemic hit, rather than retrench in the way many other institutions have, we saw the opportunity to make major investments to increase our already impressive use of education technology,” says Parker University President Dr. William E. Morgan. “This allows us not only to offer our best-in-category chiropractic education to students newly taking courses online, but also to greatly enrich the content and student learning experience for those courses, both online and in the classroom. We have firmly established our leadership in the use of educational technology in chiropractic instruction, and we will continue with our aggressive pace of deploying such solutions. Our success with and continued commitment to these investments is just one of the many reasons Parker University is experiencing record enrollment during this most challenging time for higher education.”
Additional partnerships and technology deployments will be announced later this year, supplementing the ones announced today, as well as the university’s already extensive use of educational technology.
About Touch of Life Technologies (Toltech)
Touch of Life Technologies is a medical education company that develops and sells interactive software. Touch of Life Technologies products provide a virtual learning environment combining state-of-the-art interactive technology with real anatomy from the National Library of Medicine’s Visible Human Project®, as well as higher resolution images. In business for two decades, Touch of Life Technologies collaborates with professional medical societies, educators, and practicing professionals to create and test next-generation tools to educate and train a wide range of healthcare professionals and students. For more information, visit www.toltech.net or call 800.329.2979.
About Parker University
Parker University, the fourth-fastest growing college in Texas and the fastest-growing college in Dallas, was founded in 1982 by Dr. James William Parker (formerly Parker College of Chiropractic). Today, Parker University has more than 1,800 students and 34 academic programs, including its famed chiropractic program, as well as master’s degrees in neuroscience, clinical neuroscience, strength and human performance, and functional nutrition. Currently, Parker University’s chiropractic cohort is the second largest of any campus in the world.
