EMC Team Transforms Learning Experience of Healthcare Software

By: Audrey Waggoner ’21

Many people leave campus for the summer, but here at the Emergent Media Center (EMC), we will be as busy as ever! One of our most exciting ongoing projects is a software development project called VisibleEP. VisibleEP is a collaboration with VisibleEP, LLC , a local biotech company specializing in electrophysiology (EP) mapping—tests that chart the electrical activity of a simulated heart in order to locate arrhythmias, and help patients and doctors treat and understand them.

A still from a real-time simulation of a heartbeat using the VisibleEP software

The VisibleEP team’s ultimate goal is to elevate the learning objectives and more effectively teach the principles of EP. To achieve this they will be taking the EP software and transforming the user experience and interface (UX/UI) to be more interactive and enable features often found in games. Gamification is revolutionizing healthcare because the elements that make gaming exciting and addictive—competition, streaks, rewards—can also be used to promote healthy behaviors and choices and elevate learning objectives.

But transforming software with gamified features isn’t so simple. First, the VisibleEP team is upgrading the existing software by moving it to a “game engine” platform, specifically Unity, with the goal of making it more robust and accessible across several platforms. Meanwhile, the UX/UI designers are evaluating and redesigning. Once on Unity, the gamification elements and a more contextual and intuitive UX/UI will be implemented.

A UX flowchart evaluating the software’s current flow.

The VisibleEP team is made up of Champlain students who receive feedback and assistance from the project’s faculty advisor, Sajid Farooq, Professor of Game Programming, as well as the EMC staff. They’re working hard to create something that will assist doctors and patients combating heart disorders, while also gaining important experience doing hands-on work in their future industries.