Technology, Education and Expanding on the Founder's Vision
By Cherissa Roebuck
July 12, 2024
Just how rapidly is technology advancing? When the first electric programmable computer, the Colossus, was developed in 1943 to help Allied code breakers read encrypted German messages in WWII, it was the size of a living room and weighed more than five tons. People who were alive in 1943 to witness the use of the Colossus now carry in their pockets a smartphone computer that can instantly access information from all over the world. It is 400,000 times smaller and has 1.6 million times more computing power than the 1943 Colossus — mind-blowing.
John Brown University’s founder, John E. Brown Sr., was a trailblazer in using technology to spread the gospel via broadcast radio early in the 20th century. Following the founder’s vision, JBU has embraced new technology-based academic programs, like the new artificial intelligence major. The university also uses technology to enhance existing programs, like its high-tech nursing sim lab, and leverages many technologies to make Christian higher education accessible to students everywhere.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The Computer Science Skills of Tomorrow
Next fall, JBU will launch a new degree program in artificial intelligence. JBU is the only Christian university in the United States to offer this major and one of only about a dozen programs nationwide. Justus Selwyn, Ph.D., chair of the computer science department, is leading the charge.
“After ChatGPT came into the picture, I was leading the AI task force at JBU, and I had the opportunity to work alongside professors from many departments. They had many stories about AI use at JBU,” Selwyn said. “Some were good, some were bad, some were funny, some were sensitive. Students were using ChatGPT to create content for their assignments. Is that good or bad? That is a long debate. AI is a great invention and a great gift for mankind, but students are also able to realize what is good and what is not good for their learning curve.”
Selwyn said JBU designed the new AI major to help students learn and use all the emerging AI technologies and mentor students through understanding the ethical use of artificial intelligence. This focus on ethics sets JBU’s AI program apart from programs at other universities.
“The students are learning the ways that they should not rely on technology — that we should not allow technology to rule us,” Selwyn said. “We can ask the question: ‘As believers, how will we think?’ We will think as both a Christian and a computer scientist.”
The artificial intelligence program joins a rapidly growing program lineup in JBU’s computer science department, launched at JBU in 2022. It also includes computer science, game design, and cybersecurity programs. Selwyn said that all the computer science department programs use a “C to C” (Classroom to Corporate) model. In addition to learning and using the software and technology currently used in industry jobs, all computer science juniors have a collaborative project with a real company, during which they spend three semesters working with a company to solve real-time problems.
“We are bridging the gap from academia to industry,” said Selwyn. “Industry leaders are so happy that JBU students are already using their technology and software and know how to work in a team.”
HIGH-FIDELITY SIMULATION LABS
Hands-on, High-Tech Nursing Education
A short walk across campus from the computer science department, JBU nursing students also utilize cutting-edge technology to maximize their nursing education. Nursing students use high-fidelity human simulators to practice all the skills required for effective nursing. These simulators are incredibly life-like, with rising and falling chest motions and pulses. From the control room of the sim lab, nursing faculty can speak for the sim patient so that nursing students can mimic real-life interactions with the patient in real time.
“We have simulations for the entire life span,” said JBU Nursing Director Natasha Trotter. “We have newborns, pediatric sims, a sim man — with whom we practice code scenarios, a geriatric sim and even a sim mom who can deliver a baby. We can practice all nursing skills using this sim technology, including placing catheters, NG tubes, IVs, etc.”
In addition to the program support that equips the JBU nursing sim lab with the latest sim technology, Trotter’s specific credentials are another element that sets the nursing program apart. Trotter is certified by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare as a CHSE (Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator). As of 2023, only 2,264 people worldwide hold the CHSE certification, and Trotter is currently working on the advanced certification, held by only 90 people worldwide.
“This CHSE certification gives our program a different status and allows us to know we are doing simulation well,” Trotter said.
Students who use the high-fidelity sim labs can earn two-for-one clinical hours toward their degree requirements because the time spent in the sim lab is all active interaction, compared to more passive interaction required when working in hospital settings where nursing students must defer to the registered nurses who are working on human patients.
In addition to the high-fidelity nursing sim labs, students use virtual reality headsets and the Ubi Sim program to engage with many medical scenarios. Students also use PYXIS, a medication dispensing administration system, and EHR, a medical records and charting program.
“Technology helps us prepare students to practice medicine using the same systems and processes they will use when they practice in real-life hospitals,” said Trotter. “We try to mimic exactly what hospitals in our areas use.”
A whole-student approach to nursing education is another distinctive of the JBU nursing school experience.
“We know that simulation is stressful; so for every simulation, we focus on the mental health of our students,” she said. “We require our students to log 30 minutes of healthy coping time through physical activity and 30 minutes in personal devotion time to decompress from stressful medical situations. This requirement is unique to JBU nursing – I don’t know another program that does that.”
TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL
From English majors to electrical engineering majors, history majors to artificial intelligence majors, all students utilize technology to deepen and enhance their JBU education.
“Name a technology, and our students are using it,” Selwyn said.
Ted Song, Ph.D., professor of electrical engineering and chief innovation officer, said JBU has worked to stay current with new and emerging technologies over the past decade. JBU purchased the first 3D printer for campus 12 years ago. It was extremely expensive, costing tens of thousands of dollars, and it was the size of a refrigerator. Printing took many hours, often overnight.
Today, JBU has many 3D printers, and they are small, less expensive, and much faster. The campus now has a carbon printer and a printed circuit board mill for creating circuits. Printing is embedded in the engineering curriculum — every student prints.
“If you think about JBU engineering, it started in the 30s, when students did machining. Now we have students printing,” Song said. “[Even just a few years ago] JBU used to be where students would learn to print for the first time. These days, students come to JBU having already printed before.”
Whether using AI software like Grayscope to aid in faster grading so faculty can spend more time mentoring students or utilizing Zoom video conferencing to do face-to-face advising for online graduate students, Song said that technology continues to enhance the mission and vision that John E. Brown Sr. laid as JBU’s foundation 105 years ago.
“What JBU is aiming to do is help students become wiser with technology. To do so, faculty and staff need to model how we can be wise,” Song said. “When God gives you a tool, how can you be wise with that tool?” Song asked. “Any tool can be used for God’s kingdom or not.”