Training Scientific Communication Skills on Medical Imaging within the Virtual World Second Life: Perception of Biomedical Engineering Students

Abstract

Second Life is a multi-user virtual world platform which enables online learning through immersive activities. This study evaluates the perception of third-year biomedical engineering students about learning activities complementary to a biomedical imaging course carried out within Second Life and focused on training in the public presentation of scientific content to their peers. Between 2015 and 2017, students gave oral presentations on medical imaging topics selected from the proposals of their classmates. Participants were invited to complete an evaluation questionnaire. In the three years of the study, 133 students enrolled in the course (48, 46, and 39 consecutively), and 97 of them delivered the questionnaire (48%, 83%, and 92%, consecutively). Attendance at the sessions ranged between 88% and 44%. The students positively value the experiences, especially the teacher, the educational content, and the virtual island environment, with mean scores greater than or equal to 8.4, 7.7, and 7.7, respectively, on a 1–10-point scale. Overall, they valued Second Life as an attractive and suitable environment for their training in science communication skills, in which they gain self-confidence and are less afraid of speaking in public. Second Life enables students to present scientific content effectively to their peers, receiving hands-on training in the tasks of collecting, organizing, and presenting data, with the benefits of remote access, collaborative work, and social interaction.

Improving Oral Presentation Skills for Radiology Residents through Clinical Session Meetings in the Virtual World Second Life

“…The quality of the audio allows interaction, evaluation, and improvement of oral expression. On the one hand, virtual worlds like Second Life have the disadvantage of not perceiving gestural communication, but on the other hand, the filter provided by the interface and avatar in immersive environments makes those who are starting out feel less embarrassed when speaking in public [ 26 ].…”

“…In this study, only four residents (17.4%) did not agree with the correct handling of Second Life, but three of them strongly agreed with following all the sessions fluently. It is essential that attendees learn to correctly use the basic audio communication controls (microphone and headphones) and the vision of the avatar to be able to follow the development of a session properly [ 26 ]. There are also technological limitations because reproducing the world needs a minimum computer system and graphics card requirements, as well as enough data transfer over the internet [ 16 ].…”

“…The multimodal 3D resources of Second Life have been shown to provide visual and linguistic support that facilitates foreign language learning for adults [ 24 ] and reduces anxiety levels in oral interaction [ 25 ]. In a recent study, Second Life has been shown to enable biomedical engineering students to present scientific content to their peers, receiving hands-on training in data collection, organization, and presentation tasks, with the benefits of remote access, collaborative work, and social interaction [ 26 ].…”

The Metaverse in University Education during COVID-19: A Systematic Review of Success Factors

“…Lee and Hwang (2022) Interaction between students and communication improvement They obtained a positive impact on communication skills and scientific information which was attractive and appropriate for students. Lozano-Durán et al (2023) They had a positive impact on student-to- Lee et al (2023) http://ijlter.org/index.php/ijlter student interaction by using the metaverse as a tool. Made a significant impact on student performance, habits, and interactions.…”

Digital Art and the Metaverse: Benefits and Challenges

“…Hitherto, with 3D content being graphically heavy, scalability has been a longstanding limitation for widescale updates due to computational boundaries. This has led to many using existing infrastructure for their 3D worlds, for example the online social game Second Life, which gained prominence in the early 2000s and is still actively used in research [5], as well as Roblox [6] and Minecraft [7]. All three are popular choices, because the cloud infrastructure is already in place to cater to shareability, and users are able to create 3D environments without needing to learn how to code or create their own 3D assets and game world.…”