Donning pairs of 3D shades, professors with Ogeechee Technical College sat in a darkened room this week to test drive their newest tool for teaching.
    Before making its debut in the classroom, one of three high-tech computers purchased by the college hummed on the conference center floor, projecting interactive and immersive three-dimensional images on the big-screen.
    Without using inordinate amounts of time, or getting the least bit messy, educators slowly picked apart a human eye, revealing its inner workings, down to individual nerves. They trekked with a red blood cell through the human body, bypassing major organs along the way. They even disassembled an internal combustion engine, leaving scattered pistons, crankshafts and spark plugs in their wake. 
    The group watched as 360-degree models of the human skeleton, stars, planets and animals twirled just in front of their eyes – or, at least, the 3D glasses made those images appear much closer than they were.
    Teachers used the opportunity to try their own hands operating software that customer-service representatives, on hand for the demonstration, say is changing the way students learn.
    “An advantage to using this 3D technology in education, according to several studies, is it raises test scores and retention rates,” said John Reeves, the director of medical programs for Vizitech USA, the Eatonton, Ga.-based technology company that produces the computers. Reeves was at OTC on Tuesday to help train teachers on the new hardware.
    “It does so because of the visual experience involved with it,” he said. “When presented with something visually, up close, more neurons fire in the brain, making the information, or event, more memorable.”
    Faculty and staff at Ogeechee Tech, and in several other schools in Georgia, seem to agree.
    Ogeechee Tech has agreed to purchase a computer for each of the college’s primary buildings — three currently, and a fourth that will be bought later — to be used by instructors whenever necessary.
    “The reason we’ve purchased these computers is to allow students who are more hands-on, visual learners to actually see what they’re being taught,” said Charlene Lamar, the college’s vice president of academic affairs. “If you’re trying to explain a heart, or teach how the axle of a car works, then you can use this hardware to show students exactly how everything operates, fits in and works together.
    “The programs cover everything from health to industrial fields. It covers the whole spectrum of what we do here — even math,” she said. “I would say that just about all of our students will be exposed to this new technology.”
    Included on the computers are programs that play high definition, 3D videos, PowerPoint presentations and allow students to view, construct or deconstruct items in a three-dimensional world.
    Teachers say there is no doubt that the new machines will make appearances in classrooms very soon.
    “We’ll absolutely use the software,” said Jan Martin, the director of OTC’s Radiology Program and an instructor. “We will use it in our procedures and physics labs.
    “We teach, when students come in, procedures to X-ray patients. So the anatomy portion of the hardware will come in very handy,” she said. “Students can actually look at bones, look at organs and take everything apart themselves.”
    Jane Stanley, an echocardiography instructor, said she is looking forward to using the new computer.
    “I think it’ll absolutely help. We are excited because students have a hard time understanding spatial relationships of organs and other things within the body. With this hardware, they can literally take apart different pieces of the anatomy to understand where everything, veins and all, are located,” she said. “You can look at a picture, but to see it come alive in 3D makes a lot of difference. So we are very excited about it.”
    College administrators resolved to purchase the new equipment after seeing the computers in action at a state-level meeting, Lamar said.
    Popularity of 3D technology in schools is increasing, according to Reeves, who added that Vizitech USA has sold computers to dozens of technical schools, high schools and middle schools throughout the state.
    The new technology is being recommended to member institutions, but not required, by the Technical College System of Georgia.
    “I am very pleased to have this technology,” Martin said. “This program makes real what you’re learning. You can actually see intricate details. This will certainly help students that are hands-on, visual-type learners.
    “It’s very enlightening to have a president like Dr. (Dawn) Cartee, who can see this type of technology and feel like it is something we should have in our college,” she added.
    Barry Turner, the vice president for community and college relations with Ogeechee Tech, said instructors can begin using the 3D computers as early as next week.
   
    Jeff Harrison may be reached at (912) 489-9454.