Learning in a Virtual World: Using SL for Medical Education

Learning in a Virtual World: Using SL for Medical Education Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education
Spiral Theas (Robin Heyden)
Chimera Cosmos (Liz Dorland)
John Winograd (John Weicha)
Islet Sabra (Elliot Sternthal)
March 14, 2010
In Second Life

Continuing Medical Education

The Problem How to make a Continuing Medical Education session meaningful and effective?

Avatar Role-Play

Our Project Goals
Explore the potential of VWs for medical education
Explore possible instructional design approaches
Understand the barriers and limitations
Measure participant learning outcomes and feedback

The Participants
14 primary care physicians
Average 16 yrs in practice
7 states, all doing it from home
3 with some SL experience
Average of 78 minutes coaching time with each doctor

Second Life Skills What do you think?

The SL Skills
Getting Started
Logging On
Accessing the SL URL
Orientation
Camera controls
Mini Map
Big Map
Create Landmark
Environmental settings
Movement
Teleport
Walk
Fly
Right click on an object
Sit
Communicate
Preferences- audio
Text chat
IM a specific person
Talk
Right click to see profile
Offer friendship
Use of Skype/ headset use
Extras
Take a snapshot
Inventory management
Quit

Elliot Sternthal - in RL Islet Sabra - in SL Our Content Expert

The Event (June 2009)

Collaborators

Mock Patients Mariana Hexicola

Mariana Hexacola
Latina, 45-year old female
Weight = 90 kg
Occupation: Unemployed retail worker
Type 2 Diabetes for 11 years
On basal insulin for 7 months
A1c = 7.8%

All participants showed significant gains
All participants agreed better than other online modalities
Half agreed it was better than f2f
Results

Other Intriguing Results
Value of back chat
Increased “bravery”
(anonymity)
Intriguing difficulties
Added impact of
mock practice

From the docs… What were the most interesting elements of your experience?
“ Loved sitting at home while attending live…”
“ Real-time, ongoing questions, clinical comments.”
“ The discussions with the ‘patients’…”
“ The ability to see my colleagues questions in real-time …and have them answered.”
“ The anonymity...”
“ The local chat/running comments offered a great way to ask questions, while thinking of them, without interrupting the speaker…”

From the docs… What are the weaknesses of this method of CME?
“ Perhaps hard to convince other new users that the interface is easy – it really was, but there is a barrier to overcome.”
“ None that I can think of.”
“ New technology, still a bit raw…”
“ Navigating in SL takes practice.”
“ If internet connection doesn’t work…”
“ Need participants who are tech savvy and able to multitask.”
“ Definitely a new type of ‘manners’ and courtesy that needs to be learned in this type of CME.”
“ Steep learning curve for some…”

Lessons Learned
Answer “why in SL?” before it is asked.
Plan. Then plan some more.
Skilled and unflappable speaker/facilitator.
Evidence of avatar embodiment.
Leverage the excitement and playfulness of being in-world.
Encourage the positive effects that come from anonymity.
The nature of VWs suggests a more Socratic approach.
Prepare participants for the experience , not just how to navigate.

Contact Information
Etc etc…

Learning in a Virtual World: Using SL for Medical Education

by Liz Dorland on Mar 16, 2010

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