Sharecare Launches Sharecare YOU, an Immersive, 3D Tool to Support Interactive Health and Science Education for Virtual and Remote Learning

By AIT News Desk On Sep 4, 2020

Sharecare, the digital health company that helps people manage all their health in one place through its comprehensive and data-driven virtual heath platform, announced the launch of the Sharecare YOU desktop app, an immersive, 3D simulation of the human body designed to enhance science, health, and medical education from elementary grades to higher education and beyond. Building on the virtual reality (VR) capabilities the company has incorporated into its award-winning content and virtual health engagement platform, Sharecare YOU enables users – including students, teachers, and parents – to easily access its interactive photorealistic elements directly from their computers for the first time.

As a health and science learning tool, Sharecare YOU provides unmatched, photorealistic visualizations, allowing users to explore the human body in the highest resolution and most accurate 360-degree detail available. The Sharecare YOU desktop app provides educational visualizations of the organs and anatomy associated with the cardiovascular, digestive/gastrointestinal, nervous, reproductive, respiratory, and urinary systems. With an expanding library of more than 40 different scenes to explore anatomy, physiology, conditions, and treatments, Sharecare YOU also includes informative labels and unique interactive controls to empower users to explore body organs and systems from the inside out. These features allow users to observe both the natural and disease states of organs, simulate dissections, and even personalize their view to reflect their own health conditions or planned procedures.

Recommended AI News: Asian Edutech Platform Unacademy Raises $150 Million

Sharecare YOU is available for PC or Mac in Steam, the Microsoft Store, and the App Store in two versions: a standard one, optimized for students and consumers for $29.99, and a pro version designed for educators for $269.99. Additional features in the pro version enable instructors to produce visually compelling, high-quality lectures and content by allowing them to create and integrate their own custom videos (with options to record from both their webcams and screens), voiceovers, screenshots, digital drawings, text, and presentations. It also enables teachers to pre-record lectures and control permissions for their students to participate at a scheduled time or at their own convenience and pace.

“We’re witnessing a time when innovative virtual learning solutions are not simply ‘nice-to-haves,’ but are critical to ensuring students can stay on track with effective, highly engaging learning experiences – whether in their physical classrooms or in the safety and comfort of their own homes,” said Laura Klein, president of the Consumer Solutions division at Sharecare. “We are proud to make this evidence-supported learning tool available to more users with the new turnkey desktop app and flexible pricing options, making the award-winning experience of Sharecare YOU accessible through more devices and educational settings than ever.”

An early version of the desktop program was first utilized by Yale University’s School of Medicine (YSM) to supplement the curriculum for its Physician Assistant Online program in Summer 2019. In addition to using the program in its virtual classrooms, YSM also studied and reported the students’ response to the learning format in a poster presentation to the American Academy of Physicians Assistants in June 2020. Research found the students not only reported high rates of enjoyment from using the program as a learning tool, but also expressed a desire to see more content of this nature in place of traditional lectures.

Additionally, research published in Clinical Anatomy based on a deployment among students at the University of Toronto found that instruction utilizing the Sharecare Virtual Reality platform – the precursor to the Sharecare YOU desktop app – yielded a 24.6% performance increase among students, showing greater understanding and retention of the course material. Additionally, 90.5% of students participating in the study said they learn more when they are having fun, and 89.3% reported they enjoyed the VR experience for learning cardiac anatomy. In Fall 2020, Sharecare will release an enhanced VR version of Sharecare YOU in addition to the desktop learning tool.

Sharecare YOU is one of several products and programs available from Sharecare’s Consumer Solutions division to inform and engage consumers around well-being topics to support them as they navigate their individual health journeys. Sharecare’s suite of consumer-facing solutions also complements its comprehensive virtual health platform, which empowers people to efficiently manage their health by connecting them to personalized resources, medically reviewed content, scientifically validated clinical programs, and best-in-class tools to drive behavior change.