Virtual Situated Learning Environments - Information Communication Technologies for Human Services Education and Delivery - page 77

engage students in realistic learning opportunities
for inter-professional skills development in safe
environments. For example, virtual hospitals,
schools and communities are being created to
engage students in real-world problems and dilem-
mas that require students working together inter-
professionally to provide holistic solutions.

factors need to be considered. First, it is important
to decide if ICT is the best medium for engagement
of students in inter-professional activities. This
requires consideration of a number of factors:

1. Is the task under analysis able to be explored

using a written form of communication?

2. Do both students and academics have

easy access to regular connections to the
Internet? virtual SituateD learning

environmentS (vSleS) 3. Are students mature enough to handle learn-

ing from any issues that may arise from
the scenario and aware of the appropriate
protocols for online social networking?

VSLEs are virtual environments that students ac-
cess through the university ICT system. They can
be linked to any course (subject) and to learning
platforms such as Blackboard and WebCT. VSLEs
are created as work-places, community-spaces
or public and private organisations. In providing
the situated environment in which students can
engage in real-life problem solving, they add a
realistic work environment dimension to learning.
As the VSLE is provided behind the university
ICT environment, students are protected from ex-
posure to potential predators engaging in adverse
and illegal behaviour. In addition inappropriate
behaviour between students can be blocked by
the academic.
In providing a common environment in which
students can normalise their experience and ex-
plore how they might need to act and what skills
they may need to use in handling real world-or-
work challenges in a protected and controlled
digital “safe-fail” learning environment, students
can experiment to explore the implications of both
good and bad practice. In so doing the VSLE pro-
vides the opportunity for students to experience
working at the intersection of the professions such
as in the human service arena. This is particularly
important in professions in which sensitivity is
required when dealing with people in vulnerable
situations.
When designing a VSLE and scenarios appro-
priate for student engagement in inter-professional
activities associated with the VSLE a number of

4. Do the scenarios created for online student

engagement contain sufficient complexity
and differences of opinion to spark debate
between the stakeholders?

5. Are any privacy issues contravened for the

students or for real-world characters that
may be modelled in a role play or problem-
solving activity?

Second, what factors need to be included in the
VSLE to give it a “real-world” character with suf-
ficient information provided to enable students to
realistically engage in inter-professional learning
despite the virtual environment. Table 1 presents a
summary of the issues that need to be considered
when identifying factors to be included in design-
ing a VSLE. This includes consideration of the:
Environment : Is the environment for the VSLE
realistically situated locally, nationally or globally
in order for it to have meaning to the participants?
Does it have the potential to adjust from one
environment to another? If so, does it present
opportunities to engage participant-learners from
different disciplines and cultures?
Profession: What professions are likely to be
involved in scenarios associated with this organisa-
tion? Is the VSLE designed with this in mind?
External relations: Are external relations,
between people engaged in this enterprise and
others from similar of dissimilar organisations,