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Choose an activity that fits the topic you are teaching. Use your course’s image criteria to guide the task and ask students to explain their choices. First time using the simulator? Check installation and logins. Before students work independently or in pairs, use session 0 to introduce the controls and saving images. For help with controls or Save image, see the Desktop quick start. Choose a suitable region and case from the Simulation Catalog.

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Find an error and correct it together

Use one computer and a projector to help students recognise an error, explain it, and choose a correction. Before class, prepare an image with one deliberate error. For example, use the healthy wrist case and adjust the forearm rotation away from the position you teach.
  1. Show the X-ray image before revealing the simulator setup. Give everyone a moment to decide what is wrong.
  2. Ask: “Where can you see the problem? What would you change?”
  3. Reveal the setup and make the suggested correction live.
  4. Compare the images. Ask students to explain whether the correction achieved what they expected.
Save the starting image so the class can compare it with the corrected version. Use it in a flipped classroom: share the relevant reading or a short explanation and the image before class. Ask students to bring a proposed correction. Use class time to discuss their reasoning and test their suggestions.

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Set an image-making assignment

After teaching a region and projection, ask students to produce their best attempt in the simulator. Define what you will look for, such as the anatomy included, positioning, and centring. You can adapt this brief for your own assignment system, such as Moodle, Canvas, or Blackboard:
Create an image of [region and projection] using [case]. Aim to meet the image criteria we discussed in class. Save your image and upload it to [assignment location] by [deadline]. With your image, explain which criteria it meets, one adjustment you made and why, and anything you would still improve.
Students use Save image to save a file on their computer, then upload that file to your assignment. Arrange access to a suitable computer before setting the task. In the next class, discuss a few submitted images against the same criteria. Ask students to propose a next step before you show a possible correction.

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Work in pairs

Give each pair one computer, a case, a projection, and the image criteria. The aim is for both students to make decisions and explain an image.
  1. One student uses the controls. The other checks the image against the criteria and suggests the next adjustment.
  2. Before each change, they agree what they expect it to achieve.
  3. They save an image and explain which criteria it meets and what still needs work.
  4. They return to the agreed starting setup and swap roles.
Ask each student to submit an image from their turn with a short explanation of one decision. While they work, ask either partner to explain their reasoning.

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Explore kVp, mAs, and distance

Ask students to predict a result, change one setting, and compare the images. Keep the case, positioning, and image processing settings the same during each comparison. For mAs or kVp: choose a starting setup and two values for the setting you want to explore. Students save an image at each value and record what they changed. Discuss what they expected, what they observed, and how they explain any difference. Return to the starting setup before investigating the other setting. The simulator offers raw and processed digital image modes. Decide which mode fits your lesson and use it consistently. In digital radiography, image processing can change brightness and contrast, so brightness alone does not show whether exposure is appropriate. Where available, include the displayed exposure index in the discussion. See the image and exposure capabilities and AAPM’s explanation of exposure indicators. For the inverse square law: use the displayed source-to-image distance (SID) to connect the calculation to a visible setup. Choose two distances and ask students to calculate the expected change in beam intensity using the relationship taught in your course. Then move the tube, keeping kVp and mAs fixed, and discuss the resulting setup and image. Treat the calculation and the image observation as separate parts of the exercise. Screen brightness is not a measurement of beam intensity. The IAEA radiology physics handbook, section 6.2.3.3 explains the inverse square relationship. Ask students to hand in: their images, the settings used, their prediction, and a short explanation of the result.

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Create images for your slides

You can also use the simulator to make examples for PowerPoint, handouts, and image discussions. Students do not need simulator access to use these materials. For example, create a wrist image sequence showing your reference position, too much pronation, and too much supination:
  1. Open the healthy wrist case and prepare a reference image using the positioning criteria you teach.
  2. Save the image. Change only the forearm rotation, keeping the other settings unchanged.
  3. Save one example in each direction from the reference position.
  4. Insert the images into your slides. Label the position changes and point out the anatomical features students should compare.
Check every image against your intended teaching point before using it. You can put an unlabelled version on one slide for discussion and a labelled comparison on the next.

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Two ways to build on these activities

Peer feedback and revision. Ask students to exchange saved images. Each student identifies one criterion the image meets and one change to consider. The image’s author makes a new attempt and explains which feedback they used. Show progress over a topic. Students keep an early attempt and return to the same task after further teaching. They submit the two images with an explanation of what they changed and why. Review their reasoning alongside the images. Next: Get ready for your first class or return to planning your course.