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What educational approaches best prepare future healthcare students to learn, identify, and overcome ageist bias in patient care?
Project Type
Capstone Project
Duration
4 months
Role
Project Manager
Team
3 Business and Design Students
Project Overview
As part of a capstone project for the 2025 Student Service Design Challenge (SSDC), I worked with a team of four business and design students to address the prompt: develop a solution to tackle bias within a chosen industry. We chose to focus on ageism in healthcare education. Our project, VECT (Virtual Examination for Certification and Training), is a virtual reality training platform designed to help healthcare professionals recognize and overcome age-related bias. By using immersive simulations and AI-driven feedback, VECT aims to foster empathy, improve clinical decision-making, and promote more equitable care for older adult patients.
See care differently, See people fully <3
🔎 Discovery & Research
The Problem Space
Older adults are often treated unfairly in healthcare simply because of their age. Healthcare providers might unintentionally overlook their symptoms, underestimate their abilities, or avoid offering certain treatments. This kind of bias, known as ageism, can make older patients feel dismissed and discouraged from seeking care. The main issue was simply a lack of training. Many healthcare programs spend only a few days covering elderly care, leaving future providers unprepared to work with an aging population. To truly address this problem, we knew the solution had to start with education and awareness.
We began by researching the scope and impact of ageism in healthcare:
• Older patients are often dismissed or under-treated due to stereotypes about aging.
• Many healthcare training programs allocate only 6 days to geriatric care.
• Nearly 47% of students witness ageism during clinical placements
User Interviews
To validate the issue and guide our design:
• We interviewed healthcare students, medical educators, and older patients.
• A key insight: learners wanted practical tools that go beyond lectures and textbooks.
• Feedback emphasized the need for hands-on learning, empathy-building, and feedback-driven improvement.
Understanding the User (CJM)
To better understand the experiences and challenges surrounding ageism in healthcare, we developed two detailed Customer Journey Maps (CJMs), one for the older adult patient and one for the healthcare practitioner. By mapping out each user's journey across stages such as awareness, research, service, and advocacy, we gained insights into their emotional states, pain points, and expectations at every step. For the patient persona, we focused on moments where they felt dismissed or misunderstood due to their age, revealing a clear gap in empathetic communication and trust. For the healthcare provider persona, we highlighted systemic limitations such as time constraints, lack of training, and unconscious bias. This dual-perspective approach helped us identify critical disconnects in the patient-provider dynamic and allowed us to design features in VECT that address both user needs, fostering empathy and awareness among providers while indirectly improving patient experiences.
Goal
Our goal with VECT was to create a learning tool that makes it easier for healthcare professionals and students to understand and address their own age-related biases. Instead of asking older adults to adjust to a biased system, we wanted to shift the responsibility to those delivering care. The plan was to combine online learning with immersive VR simulations, helping learners apply what they’ve learned in realistic scenarios. We wanted the platform to be educational, accessible, and practical. Something that could fit into existing training systems and make a real difference in how older adults are treated in medical settings.
💡 Ideation & Brainstorming Process
We kicked things off by mapping out the experiences of older patients and healthcare professionals to better understand where things go wrong. Initially, we thought about creating a tool to support older adults directly, but through research and discussion, we realized a bigger impact could be made by focusing on the source of the problem: the training of healthcare workers.
We held whiteboard sessions to brainstorm platform functions over on our Microsoft Teams meeting channel. Key ideas included:
• Immersive VR simulations to experience biased scenarios from multiple perspectives.
• AI-driven feedback to help learners reflect and improve in real time.
• A modular structure for asynchronous, progressive learning.
• A certification model to incentivize participation and professional growth.
Say hello to team Pholifers🍲🤞🏼
That's me!
Nathenia
Jillian
Vincent
We drew inspiration from platforms like D2L (Desire2Learn) and interviewed students in health-related fields to get their input. Based on their feedback, we added features like concept checkers and AI-driven feedback to help users better absorb the material. One challenge we ran into was deciding whether the platform should be entirely VR-based. While VR offers an immersive learning experience, not everyone has access to a headset. So, we designed VECT as a two-part system: a website for theory and a VR program for practical application. This way, users get the best of both worlds, which includes structured learning and hands-on experience.
D2L Learn Platform
VECT Platform
🪪 Brand Identity
We created a name and identity that reflected both the functionality and mission:
VECT – Virtual Examination for Certification and Training.
The acronym conveys the platform’s core values: practical assessment, training credibility, and a shift in perspective. Our visual brand embraced clean, modern typography and calming color palettes to emphasize trust, professionalism, and accessibility.
💻 Prototyping
Design Process
Each team member began by sketching their own ideas for the platform’s functionality and layout, exploring how users might access simulations, track progress, and receive AI feedback. We brought these concepts into design meetings, where we discussed usability, compared approaches, and aligned on a shared vision for the user experience.
We then translated our ideas into low-fidelity wireframes using Figma, focusing on how the platform worked rather than how it looked. Drawing inspiration from platforms like D2L, we prioritized familiarity while introducing new elements like modular learning and concept checkers.
These early wireframes allowed us to test key flows, gather feedback, and refine the structure. With a solid foundation in place, we moved into mid-fidelity prototyping to enhance interaction design and overall usability.
Mid-fideltiy Prototype
With our foundation in place, we moved into mid-fidelity prototyping to explore how users would experience VECT, from navigating lessons to receiving AI-driven feedback. Though still in greyscale, these designs helped us test flow and functionality across both the web and VR components.
A key challenge was creating a smooth, intuitive transition between structured learning and immersive simulation. We focused on reducing friction: simplifying steps, clarifying instructions, and using visual cues to guide users.
We tested with healthcare students and used their feedback to improve key touchpoints like onboarding, progress tracking, and results pages. Small changes, like better button labels or clearer module layouts, made users feel more confident.
At this stage, the design process felt like shaping a learning experience in real time—fluid, collaborative, and driven by our goal to help future providers deliver more equitable care to older adults.
User flows for website functions
Mid-fidelity Mockup Screens
Final High-Fidelity Prototype
After four months of dedicated work filled with finalizing details, redesigning features, creating mockups, and countless late-night meeting calls, it was finally time to present our solution to the panel of judges.
Our final prototype of VECT showcases the full journey, from students engaging with our learning modules to being assessed through immersive VR simulations, demonstrating how the platform supports both education and evaluation in tackling age-related bias.
Watch the full demo!
🌟 Key Takeaways
1. Working with a Diverse Team Made a Huge Difference 👩🏻👩🏻👩🏻🧑🏻
Collaborating with three other students from business and design really opened my eyes to how much stronger a project becomes when you bring different perspectives together. I learned so much from the way they thought through problems—whether it was building a business model or refining the user experience. It pushed me to think more broadly and not just from my own discipline.
2. Burnout Was Real 😭 But So Was the Support 🫱🏻🫲🏼
There were definitely moments when the workload felt overwhelming, especially near the end. I started feeling drained, and I know I wasn’t the only one. What helped was being able to talk about it openly with the team. We checked in on each other, adjusted expectations, and made sure no one felt like they had to carry everything on their own. Not to mention, we prioritized setting aside time for team bonding activities, such as playing horror games on Roblox #jumpscare🤓🎮. This reminded me of how important it is to balance our well-being with the goals and expectations of the project.
Team Capstone Gallery
Final Pitch
Roblox Grind
Team Capstone Gallery
1/3
3. Clear Communication Helped Us Make Tough Decisions 🗣️
We didn’t always agree, especially when it came to major decisions like choosing between a full VR experience and a hybrid approach. But by listening, being flexible, and keeping the user in mind, we found a solution we all felt proud of. That process really built trust within the team.
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