Promote Social Learning via Virtual Field Trips
Abstract: We created a virtual hospital, where Nursing students could conduct virtual field trips and engage in learning collaboratively via computers. First, our participants watched a story of a stroke patient, getting to know the patient’s lifestyle at the patient’s virtual home and following her to an emergency room for stroke diagnosis and treatment in the virtual hospital. They were then given a new scenario and got on a virtual trip in Second Life, a multiuser virtual environment (MUVE). They played the roles of a patient, relatives, a doctor, or a nurse, experiencing the emotional, physical, or social impacts those stakeholders may go through. The assessment tools we used are concept maps, open-ended questions and conversation logs. Analysis of students’ social learning and in-depth discussions of important issues implied are included to help understand social learning behaviors during a virtual field trip.
Presider: Hilde Van Laer, Vrije Universiteit Brussel