Learning in a Virtual World: Experience Using Second Life for Medical and Health Behaviors Education
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Abstract
Virtual worlds are becoming an important part of the educational technology landscape. Second Life (SL) is one of the best known of these environments. This presentation will describe two of our recent educational projects using SL – one for healthcare professionals (HCP) and one for patients.
The HCP project was a pilot to determine the feasibility of using virtual worlds for the global “Training in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research†distance-learning course co-sponsored by the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research (GFMER) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The HCPs, from over 30 countries, enroll in the course to learn basic principles of sexual and reproductive health for their patients. Working with the GFMER and WHO instructors, we adapted one session (on population control and demography) of the six-month long course for delivery in the virtual world. Some participants joined the session in-world as avatars, and some watched via livestream in their browser. The video recording was archived. We will describe learning objectives, adaptation of content for the virtual world, the actual session process, learning outcomes, and feasibility for future global training enterprises.
The second project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was a comparative effectiveness study of health education delivered in SL versus face to face for inner-city Black women with uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Patients were recruited from community health centers and an urban safety-net hospital, trained in the use of computers, wireless modems, and SL. They were provided with laptop computers and wireless 4-G modems to connect to the virtual world from the convenience of their homes. Four cohorts of patients met in small groups, and four times individually, with a health educator, in Second Life or face-to-face at the hospital, if randomized to the comparison group. The eight-week health education group sessions were designed to promote lifestyle and behavior changes (diet and physical activity) in order to improve glycemic control. We will report outcomes from participants in this clinical trial including baseline and end-point measurements of hemoglobin a1c, physical activity, diet, and other measures on comparative effectiveness and patient acceptance of, and adherence to, the two methods.
Our talk will provide a brief overview of both projects, design issues, our results, data evaluating the experience, and the key lessons learned when working with virtual world technology.
The HCP project was a pilot to determine the feasibility of using virtual worlds for the global “Training in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research†distance-learning course co-sponsored by the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research (GFMER) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The HCPs, from over 30 countries, enroll in the course to learn basic principles of sexual and reproductive health for their patients. Working with the GFMER and WHO instructors, we adapted one session (on population control and demography) of the six-month long course for delivery in the virtual world. Some participants joined the session in-world as avatars, and some watched via livestream in their browser. The video recording was archived. We will describe learning objectives, adaptation of content for the virtual world, the actual session process, learning outcomes, and feasibility for future global training enterprises.
The second project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was a comparative effectiveness study of health education delivered in SL versus face to face for inner-city Black women with uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Patients were recruited from community health centers and an urban safety-net hospital, trained in the use of computers, wireless modems, and SL. They were provided with laptop computers and wireless 4-G modems to connect to the virtual world from the convenience of their homes. Four cohorts of patients met in small groups, and four times individually, with a health educator, in Second Life or face-to-face at the hospital, if randomized to the comparison group. The eight-week health education group sessions were designed to promote lifestyle and behavior changes (diet and physical activity) in order to improve glycemic control. We will report outcomes from participants in this clinical trial including baseline and end-point measurements of hemoglobin a1c, physical activity, diet, and other measures on comparative effectiveness and patient acceptance of, and adherence to, the two methods.
Our talk will provide a brief overview of both projects, design issues, our results, data evaluating the experience, and the key lessons learned when working with virtual world technology.
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