Kelley Connor

Immersive virtual environments for perioperative nursing

Kelley Connor — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 07:01:39 PDT

Synopsis Perioperative nurses require ongoing education throughout their career to stay current in their practice. While there are many formats available for nurses to gain continuing education knowledge, virtual reality may enhance current learning options. Virtual reality environments are flexible spaces where users are able to interact with each other and the space around them. Virtual reality education options include both synchronous and asynchronous learning.

Collaborative Practice Through Simulations in a Multiuser Virtual Environment

Maximilian Veltman et al. — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 08:45:43 PDT

Content delivery and clinical education methods have been changing over the last decade in nearly all health professions.¹ Nowhere is this more evident than in the clinical aspects of nursing education.² Although nursing has a history of significant clinical experience in its educational programs, schools are increasingly faced with challenges related to limited clinical placement availability. Many schools of nursing are beginning to explore alternative means of providing a strong clinical component to their courses while maintaining high quality.³ Along with the use of clinical simulation in laboratories housed on campus, there has also been the adoption of the use of virtual environments as a potential platform for clinical simulation.² The use of multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs) has garnered considerable attention by clinicians and educators and is beginning to grow in popularity and practicality for many professions.^2,4 Among these MUVEs, Second Life (SL), created by Linden Lab (San Francisco, CA), has emerged as one of the most popular environments, with more than 15 million account-registered users and about 1 million active users (users who log in at least once per week).⁵ Using a basic free account, users are able to gain a sense of presence by creating a representation of themselves called an avatar. Using the avatar, they are able to interact with spaces, objects, and each other in a real-time environment.

The Value of Second Life to Nursing

Kelley Connor — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:15:56 PDT

Transforming Learning: Using a Multi-User Virtual Environment for Simulation

Michelle Honey et al. — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:15:48 PDT

Simulations are well known in education, including health professional education. Traditionally simulations have included role plays and demonstration rooms where skills can be practiced and more recently high-fidelity mannequins have lifted the level of simulation. The use of the Internet has allowed synchronous learning that permits sharing experiences and social interactivity. One specific option that has emerged which has the potential to transform health professional clinical education is the use of multi-user virtual environments for simulated learning. A pilot using Second Life, a web-based virtual environment, to teach haemorrhage management to undergraduate nurses is described. Findings include that with pre-simulation preparation student learning occurs. However, the greatest barrier to continued use of a multi-user virtual environment is the need for equal internet speed for all participants to support the participants’ interaction.

How to Make Sure Your Poster is Worth a Thousand Words

Diana Mixon et al. — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:15:39 PDT

Practical Tools for Rural Education: Integrating Technology Into the Teaching-Learning Process

Kathy Reavy et al. — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:15:33 PDT

Teaching with technology is an obvious solution to meeting the higher education needs of rural students. The purpose for this paper is to provide explanations, guidelines and lessons learned regarding purchase and use of current available technologies that are capable of providing quality teaching-learning experiences. This paper also addresses barriers, challenges and solutions for educators who are considering online teaching-learning productions. Background and current data included are possible because of a funded project that provided the opportunity to purchase, process and evaluate virtual technology and its integration of some features into the status quo university supported asynchronous technology system. The motivation to seek funding was rooted in improving our distance education offerings for rural nursing students. This paper begins by identifying student and faculty needs, followed by evaluation of delivery systems and software programs. Delivery systems include video and web conferencing that have synchronous and/or asynchronous capabilities. Choosing and integrating quality software and hardware to enhance online teaching and learning experiences are the next decisions toward creation of a satisfying learning experience. Outcome objectives for both faculty and students focused on efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction.

Practical Tools for Rural Education: Integrating Technology into the Teaching-Learning Process

Kathy Reavy et al. — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:15:25 PDT

The need to better prepare physicians for rural and remote practice continues to be a pressing issue in medical education around the world. Rural and remote communities continue to have unequal health outcomes and lower proportions of medical practitioners, and doctors continue to be poorly prepared for the challenges they face in these communities. Medical educators continue to experience difficulty accessing sound information about how to deliver courses that help meet these workforce challenges. This book offers a wide range of strategies for meeting education delivery challenges in the key areas of rural and remote workforce preparation.

Teaching With Second Life®: Hemorrhage Management as an Example of a Process for Developing Simulations for Multiuser Virtual Environments

Michelle Honey et al. — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:15:18 PDT

This article describes the process used for developing a simulation in Second Life^®, a multiuser virtual environment. The aim of the project was to increase our awareness and skills in using Second Life as a teaching medium and to teach postpartum hemorrhage management to undergraduate nursing students. The experience gained in this project is the result of a collaborative teaching effort between two university nursing programs. This article presents a summary of the key lessons learned from our project. These lessons include the importance of planning and adequate preparation to ensure a focus on learning, the need for orientation to Second Life, and the benefits of working collaboratively.