Midwifery Education
   & Second Life



         Sarah Stewart (Petal Stransky) 2012
              Australian College of Midwives
             sarah.stewart@midwives.org.au
                Creative Commons Attribution BY
Sarah Stewart




Petal Stransky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw-KL-lCesE
What does Second Life offer
   student midwives &
       educators?
Authentic & immersive
 learning experiences
Safe place to explore
 clinical scenarios
Imaginative mode of presenting
    content & information
Access to international
community of midwifery &
   health educators &
      researchers
Access to communities of
 health care consumers




     Cape Able Island, haven for deaf, hard of hearing &
people with disabilities: http://virtualability.org/our_projects.aspx
Questions to ask?
Think about what you want to
  achieve – can it be better
   achieved another way?
What resources are already
available in Second Life that
you can use to reduce costs?
Who can you collaborate
 with to reduce costs?
How can you share what you develop
 in order to support other educators?
What about students who do not have
  access to Internet & computers?
Educational principles
      to follow
Don’t be ‘seduced’ by technology –
keep pedagogy in mind all the time
Don’t lose sight of
learning outcomes
Embed Second Life
  into curriculum
Design comprehensive
 orientation program
Allow students & staff time to
 ‘play’ to build confidence &
          competence
What technology do you need?


• Decent Internet access
• Quality computers
• Headsets & microphones
• Knowledgeable IT support
• Supportive IT policies
Who do you need in your team?
• Second Life developer/builder
• Some one with experience of Second Life, how it
  works & what can be achieved
• Educational
   designer
• Faculty
  champion/s
Second Life Education New Zealand
      Virtual Birthing Unit &
      Normal Birth Scenario
Resources
*http://slenz.wordpress.com
• *http://wikieducator.org/The_virtual_birthing_unit_project
  *On the MUVE or in decline: Reflecting on the
  sustainability of the Virtual Birth Centre developed in
  Second Life:
  http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet28/stewart.html
  *http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Virtual
  %20birthing%20unit
Sarah Stewart

sarah.stewart@midwives.org.au
http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.com
Twitter: SarahStewart
Skype: sarah.m.stewart

Midwifery education & Second Life

Editor's Notes

  • #4 A 3D, real-time, fully interactive, online digital world Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) Not a game Open source Imagined, created & owned by its residents An extremely rich virtual environment “ MUVE is currently used as the term to describe a persistent 3D graphical environment accessed over the internet which allows a large number of concurrent users, represented by their avatars to interact synchronously”