Sunday, August 16, 2015

Using a Virtual Environment to Deliver Evidence-Based Interventions: The Facilitator's Experience

Below:  ¡Cuídate! (Take Care of Yourself!) training room in Second Life


A total of 35 facilitators were trained in the virtual environment. We evaluated the facilitators' experience in the virtual training environment and determined if the learning environment was acceptable and supported the acquisition of learning outcomes. To this end, the facilitators were surveyed using a modified community of inquiry survey, with questions specific to the Second Life environment and an open-ended questionnaire. In addition, a comparison to face-to-face training was conducted using survey methods.

Results of the community of inquiry survey demonstrated a subscale mean of 23.11 (SD 4.12) out of a possible 30 on social presence, a subscale mean of 8.74 (SD 1.01) out of a possible 10 on teaching presence, and a subscale mean of 16.69 (SD 1.97) out of a possible 20 on cognitive presence. The comparison to face-to-face training showed no significant differences in participants' ability to respond to challenging or sensitive questions (P=.50) or their ability to help participants recognize how Latino culture supports safer sex (P=.32). There was a significant difference in their knowledge of core elements and modules (P<.001). A total of 74% (26/35) of the Second Life participants did agree/strongly agree that they had the skills to deliver the ¡Cuídate! program.

The results showed that participants found the Second Life environment to be acceptable to the learners and supported an experience in which learners were able to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to deliver the curriculum.

Read more at:  http://ht.ly/QYtsp HT @UMichNursing

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