The universalisation of immersive technologies and digital 3D environments has enabled simulated experiences to be created in various contexts, one of which is education. These environments have immense potential for, for example, generating immersive situations in which students can experience real learning. Although realism, dramatism and…

Virtual patient (VP) is a concept used in the teaching of communication skills, and like physical examinations and other professional skills, must be taught with utmost care. In Turkey, as VPs are yet to be used in medical training, the usual practice when teaching such skills is to use standardised patients (individuals pretending to be…

The purpose of this study was to explore one novice clinical educator's experiences with training essential communication and interpersonal skills using a virtual patient. Over 3 weeks, the clinical educator (CE) delivered a series of half-day clinical placements to students using an educator-controlled virtual patient, depicting an older adult…

Scholarly literature attesting to the benefits of role play in teaching international relations or political science subjects is abundant and universally positive. However, despite many case studies presenting snapshots of single examples, long term data concerning a role play exercise is difficult to find. This study presents student feedback…

Consumer-grade virtual reality has recently become available for both desktop and mobile platforms and may redefine the way that students learn. However, the decision regarding which device to utilise within a curriculum is unclear. Desktop-based VR has considerably higher setup costs involved, whereas mobile-based VR cannot produce the quality of…

In Australian law schools didactic pedagogies such as lectures devoted to the transmission of theory and knowledge to a largely passive audience still predominate. However, curriculum design embedding authentic learning pedagogies has been shown to be supportive of student learning. The challenge in adopting such curriculum design is how to offer…

Emerging technologies are providing opportunities for designing new learning environments, especially environments in which students can learn by putting their skills into practice. Knowledge about the development of these experiences needs to be accumulated and processed so that they can be integrated effectively into training programmes. In this…

There is scant evidence to demonstrate that researchers grasp the social dimensions of convergence, and particularly, the academic and social implications of converged media on students' lives. Despite a surge in student appropriation of social media-enabled mobile phones for exchanging educational resources and social practices, little is known…

There is a growing body of evidence that feeling present in virtual environments contributes to effective learning. Presence is a psychological state of the user; hence, it is generally agreed that individual differences in user characteristics can lead to different experiences of presence. Despite the fact that user characteristics can play a…

Expectations for simulations in healthcare education are high; however, little is known about healthcare students' expectations of the learning process in virtual reality (VR) and simulation-based learning environments (SBLEs). This research aims to describe first-year healthcare students' (N=97) expectations regarding teaching, studying, and…

It was found in the two-year study reported in this article that a single collaborative language lesson using "Second Life" can result in a statistically significant increase in student self-efficacy beliefs across a range of specific and general language skills. However, students with different "real life" prior experience…

Pressures in terms of the availability of quality, real-life clinical experiences for students have resulted in increased interest in the use of simulation in a variety of healthcare disciplines. "Te wahi whanau: The birth place" is a Virtual Birth Centre (VBC) that was created in "Second Life" in 2009 as part of the Second…

Online learning critically relies upon good communication between engaged parties in order to convey ideas, meanings, and values. Emerging technologies in collaborative virtual environments are providing new affordances in establishing greater online presence and, in turn, greater abilities to communicate and learn. This study examines how…

Role-plays in a virtual world hold tremendous potential for higher education because they allow synchronous, immersive participation by students located across the globe. They also have the added advantage of allowing students to adopt roles and carry out tasks that are not possible in the real world. In this article, a project that involved…

This article describes the research design of, and reports selected findings from, a scoping study aimed at examining current and planned applications of 3D immersive virtual worlds at higher education institutions across Australia and New Zealand. The scoping study is the first of its kind in the region, intended to parallel and complement a…