Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
•
Give healthcare educators more control
over what the healthcare students learn and
what cases they are exposed to;
and development particular skill. A qualitative
component also reported positive responses from
students to their experiences with the simulator
system with the majority of students agreeing that
the simulation helped them to better understand
the performance of neonatal resuscitation, and that
it was a useful training tool for medical students.
Students also indicated that simulated experience
can improve confidence with healthcare students;
with a vast majority agreeing that the simulation
had better prepared them to deal with a future
neonatal emergency. The authors conclude that
apart from the cognitive benefits of a computer
simulation, via the Internet, the “system could
provide an opportunity for facilitating remote
skills training and assessment in a more cost-
effective manner than traditional face-to-face
methods” (p. 163).
•
Provide timely and quality feedback to
students;
•
Pace the load and level of difficulty based
on the students performance;
•
Insure consistency of case or simulation
presentation, thus strengthening the over-
all process;
•
Provide an opportunity for the faculty to
create and edit scenarios as well as deter-
mine the criteria for grading;
•
Allow students to have the opportunity to
compare their answers with the evaluations
criteria; and
•
Capture student performance records for
comparison across virtual patient cases and
students.
3D mUVes and Virtual Worlds:
New Opportunities for Online
Learning Simulations
Other researchers have sought to evaluate the
effectiveness of a computer-based simulation as
a means for increasing the retention of particular
healthcare skills. Curran, Aziz, O'Young, and
Bessell (2004) performed a randomized pre-test/
post-test experimental study using computer simu-
lation to update neonatal resuscitation skills four
months after the initial training and then tested the
students' knowledge and performance four months
after the second training. The study investigated a
convenience sample of third-year undergraduate
medical students involving an experimental group
that was updated using a computerized simulator
that monitored the effectiveness of resuscitation.
The control group was updated using instructional
video. The authors reported there were significant
decreases in the students' knowledge levels at the
four and eight-month period, however there were
no significant differences in the retention between
the experimental and control groups with both
groups having a similar decrease in test scores
over the 8 months. These findings suggest that
computer-based simulation can be as effective as
video instruction in the retention of information
The idea of synchronous interactive virtual spaces
is not new. Early forms of virtual spaces such
as text-based MUDs (multi-user domains) and
MOOs (MUDs, object-oriented) have been used
in education for a number of decades (Nykvist,
2005). However, the recent resurgence of interest
in web-based virtual reality (VR), fuelled by ever-
increasing processing power, image resolution,
and network bandwidth, has given rise to a set of
emerging technologies that have been collectively
dubbed the “3D Web.” One such technology that
has generated significant interest with tertiary
educators is 3D virtual worlds. In addition to the
capabilities and affordances provided by pre-
existing synchronous online communication tools
and spaces, 3D virtual worlds like Second Life
enable learners to interact with and manipulate
information and representations of an environment
and synchronously communicate with other people
from a first person perspective (Dickey, 2005).
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