Indiana partners using VR to teach about orthopedic careers
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA Warsaw-based nonprofit and an Indiana tech startup are using virtual reality to attract teens to careers in orthopedics.
OrthoWorx tapped Westfield-based iXplore to immerse Kosciusko County students in virtual reality to experience what an orthopedic job might be like.
“It is itself a bird’s eye view in virtual space of why the orthopedic industry matters and what it means to perform job functions within that industry,” Heather Jackson, iXplore co-founder and CEO, said. “Even more importantly [it shows] why the people who love those jobs love those jobs to help young people understand the why behind that career.”
Through iXplore, students explore two trades on the manufacturing floor and learn about entrepreneurship by launching an orthopedic startup.

The iXplore team did site visits, interviews and used local actors to help bring the VR experience to life. The goal is to open the door to an industry that students may not even know about in their own backyard.
“For me, it was particularly near and dear…we were telling the story of a region that one county over I didn’t know about growing up,” Jackson said. “It’s not just the story of the orthopedics industry; it’s what it means to Warsaw and what it means to the students in that area.”
Some students have already gone through the VR experience, and several school districts—including Tippecanoe Valley, Warsaw, Wawasee, and Whitko schools—will use the modules beginning this spring.
iXplore is focusing on eighth graders to start but the company is talking to groups across the region about possible expansion for all middle schoolers.
“I had one young woman, she’d never been in VR before…she came out of the headset, and I just said, ‘Hey, how was the experience?'” Jackson said. “[She asked], ‘Was that real? Did that really happen?’ Her eyes were as big as saucers…we’re really trying to help solve that issue of how we get kids excited about careers.”
iXplore is nominated for three 2025 TechPoint Mira Awards. Jackson says as a female in tech, she regularly feels that she’s not taken seriously in some situations and has had to work harder than peers who are not female.
“I enjoy the challenge…we’re quickly overcoming that with the products and the things that we’re doing, and so I’ve never let that slow me down,” Jackson said. “For young women who want to consider careers in the tech field, the key is [to] just be resilient. It may not be an easy road, but life isn’t easy. You’ve got to stick with it if it’s something that you believe in.”
While orthopedics is the focus of this project, Jackson, a former teacher, is on a mission to use virtual reality to help students explore careers in any industry. iXplore hopes to expand the orthopedic project regionally and eventually statewide.