The Added Value of 3D Simulations in Healthcare Education

This article describes a grant-funded collaborative faculty initiative to develop a prototype of a virtual learning environment through a 3D virtual platform, Second Life. It identifi es and discusses benefits and challenges educators face in adopting a 3D simulation environment in instruction. Thirtythree study participants reported the interdisciplinary educational experience was positive. They perceived the 3D learning environment supported the needs of visual learners, promoted self-paced learning, and provided more realistic scenarios for application to clinical practice than the print case study. Although our pilot study was time-limited and used a small number of students, the results suggest 3D simulation appears to be an exciting, promising, affordable pedagogy to engage health care students in problem solving and critical reasoning. The focus was on lessons learned through promoting 3D simulation-based learning in higher education to inform future research on effective ways of evaluating achievement of student learner outcomes when using virtual reality.