Susan Toth-Cohen, Ph.D., OTR/L (SL – Zsuzsa Tomsen)

Jefferson College of Health Professions, Philadelphia, PA

Adventures in Research and Teaching at the Jefferson Occupational Therapy Center

in Second Life®Professional and Scholarly Publishing, Association of American Publishers,

Washington, DC, February 4, 2009

Basic Questions

What exactly are virtual worlds?How did they come about?Is Second Life the only one?What are academic researchers and educators doing there?

Virtual Worlds:Offspring of gaming &

virtual reality (Siva, 2008)

•A synchronous, persistent network of people, represented as avatars,

facilitated by networked computers. (Bell, 2008, p. 2)

•Many virtual worlds exist, for people of all ages, which may be used for many purposes

Virtual Reality

Gaming

http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/info/categories.shtml

Characteristics of Virtual Worlds

1. Shared Space: many users can participate at once. 2. Graphical User Interface: depicts space visually3. Immediacy: interaction takes place in real time. 4. Interactivity: users create or alter content. 5. Persistence: continues to exist regardless of whether individual users are logged in. 6. Socialization/Community: allows and encourages in-world social groups

http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/info/whatis.shtmlPlay2 Train

Unique Features of Virtual World Education

• Deliver information and reach new audiences in a cost-effective manner

• Collaborate with other disciplines and institutions to develop projects

• Meet needs of learners accustomed to virtual environments

The Jefferson Occupational Therapy Center in Second Life®

Current Aims of Project

• Provide exhibits on health and wellness for residents of the virtual world and conduct ongoing evaluation and improvement of these exhibits

• Collaborate with health professionals and consumers/residents to create the content and format of the exhibits, and

• Provide a way that graduate students can learn to deliver health information for consumers that is engaging, accurate, and benefits everyday life.

Exhibits Produced

• Healthy Aging

• Adaptation Home • Carpal Tunnel

Syndrome

• Backpack Awareness

• Stroke Awareness

Healthy Aging Exhibit

Theme: The “garden” of the brain never ceases being pruned and newly planted.

This quote from http://www.memoryzine.com/neuroplasticity.htm reflects the focus of much research on neuroplasticity.

Adaptation Home Exhibit

Displays adaptations for low vision, mobility challenges, and impaired cognitive functioning

Evolution of Second Life® Focus

• Bring classes into Second Life®

• Structured assignments

• Content provided through powerpoints, video, & quizzes

• Collaborative projects & exhibits– Program dev. &

evaluation

• Exploration & brainstorming

• Interactive displays

• Events

Keys to Success

of

Project

• Graduateassistants (paid)

• Graduate research students (final MS projects)

• Building andscripting classes

• ActiveCollaboration

• Project focus• Regularly

scheduled meetings &consistent presencein-world

• In-world GROUPS!

Program Development Process

Faculty-Student CollaboratorsTeam

Weekly Meetings Meeting schedule variesaccording to project

Program Evaluation

Data Sources: Online Survey – surveymonkey.com

– Demographics– Overall response to all exhibits– Specific response to the Healthy Aging exhibit

(newly developed)

Follow-up Interview• Optional with open-ended questions

Focus group (new healthy aging exhibit)

Purpose: To further develop and evaluate the

content and format of exhibits and visitor response

Institutional Review Board Application

3 levels of review: Full Expedited Exempt

• Approved with no revisions or questions• Procedures for recruitment and consent were patterned after a study conducted by Texas A&M• Participants recruited through education and healthcare groups and event notices • Notecard provided for consent•100L honorarium (about 50¢)

Results of Program Evaluation30 survey participants

– 11 male, 17 female (2 declined to give their gender)

– 40% >45 years of age– 83.34% with some years of college

23 follow-up interviews– Voluntary face-to-face virtual chats– Open-ended questions with probes if

needed– Constructive and supportive feedback

given

Survey Findings88.33% strongly agree/agree

visual, interactive 3-D displays help them learn better than 2-D websites

80% strongly agree/agree

the information will be beneficial in real life

93.33% strongly agree/agree

the materials were presented clearly

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

SA A N D SD

3-D Learning

Real Life Benefit

Clearly Presented

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Backpack Safety

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Healthy Aging

Adaptation Home

Most Useful Exhibit

Sample Comments: Real Life Applicability

• I thought the content was immediately applicable and practical…I think it is a great resource for the OT’s in the state.

• I never realized how hard it is for someone in a wheelchair to do basic tasks like get things out of the cabinet in the kitchen!

• I am dealing with aging parents at present and found the suggestions very helpful. We are thinking about re-modeling the bathroom, so it it was timely as well.

• I am in that (older) age group, and knowing that certain things I do…are actually part of a healthy aging lifestyle - and other points - will keep me focused on pro-active strategies.

• the backpack display really helped me out because I carry a lot of weight in my backpack with all my books.

Discussion of Program Evaluation Results

Virtual worlds appear to be a promising new venue for promoting health and wellness

Exhibits in the virtual world can have practical, real world applications

Participants in program evaluation are partners whose feedback helps improve and expand upon exhibits

Graduate Student Participation

Project-based approach provides rich benefits for both graduate students and researchers

Virtual environment affords unique opportunity for students to develop, test, and refine ideas for educating consumers about important health topics

Collaboration is key for development and review process

Questions about research and teaching in 2nd Life?

Want a full list of references? Email me.