Gotta Start Somewhere!

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Permalink Reply by Barry Joseph on May 3, 2008 at 9:04pm

Alina, Thank you for starting this. As RezEd is a space for those using virtual worlds for learning, perhaps you can share more information about how you are teaching medical school faculty about virtual worlds and share what you think has worked and been challenging?

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Permalink Reply by Alina Haywood on May 4, 2008 at 9:26pm

One of the groups I manage is the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) In July at their annual meeting we are having several sessions dedicated to the use of gaming as a teaching tool. The main speaker will be addressing the use of Second Life in the classroom specifically. I an anxious to learn how these techniques are being used and received by students.

Last year I also attended an International conference for medical educators where the keynote speaker addressed the topic of the future of gaming and virtual worlds in the classroom.

My role is to help the planning committees of the various meetings to address these issues and bring in experts who are using gaming and virtual worlds in their classrooms.

The biggest challenge I have seen is that the typical "professor" doesn't believe in the credibility and sees teaching thru gaming and/or virtual worlds as nothing but a gimmick.

Having a avid gamer in my own home ... I strongly disagree. I believe the the next generation of learners will require different methods of instruction.

One of the projects I am currently working on is to duplicate many of the activities that will be occurring at the July meeting in Second Life. I am currently creating a space where meeting participants will be able to reinforce what was seen and heard during the meeting, in the SL. I thought it might be a way to introduce the faculty to the possibilities!

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Permalink Reply by Doug Danforth on May 22, 2008 at 3:02pm

Hi Alina,

I second Barry - thanks for starting this group.

I am currently working on several projects involving SL for Medical Education. My main project at the moment is a virtual simulation of the human testis. I created it to help explain the blood-testis barrier to my Med 1 and Med 2 students, as well as my undergraduate class. The model is on my island "OSU Medicine". I just recently got the island so right now there is nothing on the island except for my testis sim on a platform in the sky. I will do some development on the ground over the course of the next few months.

The second project we're working on now is the development of a virtual patient that will be controlled by artificial intelligence. This will be designed to teach the med students some H&P and differential diagnosis skills. The "patient" will be pregnant and will have lab results, 3-D ultrasounds, etc available to help the students with the diagnosis and treatment. I have a grant pending that will fund this project.

This summer I will begin working on a simulation of the ovary, and perhaps a fertilization sim.

I have been in discussions with several physicians here at Ohio State who are interested in SL. There are three Emergency Medicine faculty who want to explore SL as a possible way to teach residents and perhaps give oral board exams. I am also just starting to work with one of Family Medicine docs in our Student Health System who wants to "use interactive technology and social media to enhance the health care we deliver to our students." I'm not sure exactly what he has in mind but it should be interesting.

There is a lot of activity in the Medical Education arena within SL. Some of it fairly sophisticated (John Miller's Nursing Education Simulator), others just getting started. Plenty of hospitals but not many that are useful for much more than a nice tour.

Well, that's a long first post but maybe it will spur some other Medical Educators to post. I'm always looking to collaborate with other people on these sorts of things.

Regards,

Doug Danforth
SL:DrDoug Pennell

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Permalink Reply by ShapingYouth on May 28, 2008 at 12:49am

All: I just wrote a post about the use of virtual worlds in treating post traumatic stress disorder on Shaping Youth in honor of Memorial Day, here: http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=1593

In researching the piece, I found it fascinating to see the concrete advancements coming out of physical and mental data, curing phobias, fixations, and VR mitigating chronic developments like isolation/cancer, depression/burn victims etc. with VERY promising and inspiring results!

Not sure if I should be joining the 'medical' group or the 'psychology' group on RezEd for this one, as both apply! ;-) Cornell University has a clear interest in this, and I listed a gazillion links from Human Interactive Technology as well... Thanks for starting this group...keep me posted, best, Amy

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Permalink Reply by Susan Penner on June 12, 2008 at 12:40pm

Alina, I hope that by "medical education" you're willing to be inclusive of health care professions--as a nurse educator, I'm becoming familiar with a growing body of gaming, education and health care literature around the use of virtual worlds. IMHO, the use of virtual world media in health care is, by definition, interdisciplinary. Moreover, I see the use of virtual worlds as a way to break down our long-held, traditional barriers, not only among health care disciplines but between the patients and the providers. I hope others on this list will share thier views.

I'm sharing the URL for an article that may be of interest not only to medical students but to other health care disciplines, that I recently saw on another e-list:

To: "[Games-for-Health]"
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 10:20 PM
Subject: [games-for-health] PopCap news on disabeled gamers and health...


> http://www.gamespot.com/news/6192402.html?tag=latestnews;title;2
>
> "11 percent of respondents said they had casual gaming recommended or
> prescribed to them by a physician, psychiatrist, physical therapist,
> or other medical professional."
>

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Gulliver on August 18, 2008 at 3:14pm

Laura:

It is great to have individuals interested in new approaches to nursing education coming into the academic arena. If you have not already contacted JS Vavoom yet, he has created several learning modules for his undergraduate nursing students in SL.

There appears to be very few nursing educators that I have found who are immersed in virtual simulation and gaming, so you are most likely in the forefront with the rest of us, wondering into the unknown but willing to take risks to enhance the teaching-learning environment.

Kevin Gulliver
SL: Ewan Vaher

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Permalink Reply by Susan Penner on July 18, 2008 at 11:46am

The following should be of interest to medical educators--it's easy to run the brief video, which shows some of the potential of using Second Life.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/705210.html A KC Star article on how the KUMC (the University of Kansas Medical Center/School of Medicine) is using Second Life in medical education--if you click on the URL for the article, then click on the education video link (underlined in red) you'll see a brief video of how they're using SL to teach anesthesiology and PT students.

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