Simulations, in the form of role plays, games or machine learning can be powerful teaching tools. I worked alongside other academics, medical practitioners and games designers on this visionary project. The process of educational design was as rewarding as the product itself. If you are an educator who has dabbled in games design or simulations, then you might appreciate that such projects are labor intensive and funding dependent.

The “Ready to Practice?” simulation is an extension of a virtual kidneys project designed as a learning aid for renal Pharmacists and Pharmacy students. The simulation is of a real-life scenario where learners communicate with team members and retrieve relevant information to make decisions on patient care in real-time. There were many complex considerations in designing, developing and implementing the simulation. A range of platforms such as  Second Life™, and Opensim were explored before settling on a cost-effective, low tech version which was still web-based and allowed multiplayer participation. Our efforts were recognised in the Best Paper Award at the ELearn conference in 2015.

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For further reference:

Martini, N., Datt, A., Bhargava, A., & Webster, C. (2015). Ready to Practice? Learning skills using digital simulated patients. Proceedings of E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2015, 1527-1532. Kona, Hawaii, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/p/152197/

If you are keen, the simulation may still be active for you to try out – any feedback will be welcome.