Advancing virtual patient simulations through design research and interPLAY: part I: design and development

Advancing Virtual Patient Simulations and Experiential Learning with InterPLAY: Examining How Theory Informs Design and Design Informs Theory.

“…We detailed the design and development of NERVE in Hirumi et al (2016a) and report students' use, reactions, learning and transfer of NERVE in Hirumi et al (2016b). Here, we focus on examining the pedagogical foundations of NERVE and answering the two design research questions specified for this article.…”

“…During the last year of R&D, we worked with medical-school students, staff and instructors to address five features of design experiments posited by Cobb et al 2003, p. 9-11), including: (a) the development of, "a class of theories about both the process of learning and the means that are designed to support that learning," (b) investigating, "the possibilities for educational improvement by bring about new forms of learning in order to study them," (c) testing a hypothesized learning process and fostering, "the emergence of other potential pathways," (d) being pragmatic in addressing practical problems faced by practitioners, and (e) containing iterative cycles of invention and revision. The design and development (Hirumi et al, 2016a) and the integration and testing of NERVE (Hirumi et al, 2016b) focused on investigating the possibilities of educational improvement, testing a hypothesized learning process, being pragmatic, and detailing the iterative cycles of invention and revision. For the purposes of the present article, we review the iterative design method followed during the last year, and discuss the development of a class of theories about learning and instructional design to examine the role of theory in informing design, and the role of testing in refining theory (Collins, 1992).…”

“…During the last year of a five-year NIH grant, a team of physicians, software engineers, and instructional designers at three public universities completed a series of iterative design studies to produce the first public release of NERVE-A virtual patient (VP) simulation created to give medical students standardized experiences in interviewing, examining, and diagnosing patients with cranial nerve disorders. The last year of the project, including the results of two cycles of expert reviews, one-to-one and small group evaluations, and a field test with 119 second-year medical students are reported by Hirumi et al (2016aHirumi et al ( , 2016b. This article augments the previous papers by examining the pedagogical foundations of NERVE in greater depth.…”

“…We detailed the design and development of NERVE, including findings from the two iterative cycles of design studies and improvements made to NERVE based on the findings in Hirumi et al (2016a). We also reported the results of implementing and field-testing NERVE, including data on students' use, reactions, learning and transfer in Hirumi et al (2016b).…”

“…In addition, in Parts I and II of a two-part series published in Educational Technology Research and Development, we detailed the design and development, and the testing and integration of the Neurological Exam Rehearsal Virtual Environment (NERVE)-the first public release of the VP simulation that resulted from the final year of R&D now available at http:// nervesim.com (Hirumi et al, 2016a(Hirumi et al, , 2016b.…”