Development and Evaluation of Two 3D-Simulated Practice Learning Environments

Introduction

This paper discusses the evaluation of two 3D simulated practice learning environments, Tiny Oaks and Play2Do, focused on supporting people working in health, social care with children, families and vulnerable people in special educational settings. The importance of health, social care and special education services is increasing as society changes dramatically and practice/professional learning evolves to meet these changing dynamics. This growing demand for services is creating unprecedented pressures on health, social care and special education systems. Despite differences in political approaches and institutional frameworks, health, social care and special education services face similar challenges in adjusting to demographic change, rising expectations and consumerism, changing employment and family patterns, funding and evolving technological and distributed learning opportunities of service users for trainees, practitioners and professionals as learners.

We have developed two immersive 3D simulated practice learning environments that provide safer and more accessible environments in which students and professional social workers who deal with vulnerable people can learn by interacting with NPCs (non-player characters) in a simulation of a real-world service. Trainees engage with simulations and are required to navigate their way through choices to arrive at the best resolution. Each simulation can be replayed and evaluated by the trainer/mentor and the trainee can use the same simulation as many times as required. We see this as offering a measurable, controlled environment where learners can gain a command of the basics of the job role, they are training for with minimal resource requirements and zero risk to the public, thus providing a sound basis from which to progress to real work practice placement. Previous publications have discussed a small expert evaluation of the childhood practice environment (Hainey et al. 2014a) and the results of a larger preliminary evaluation of this environment with 20 Social Science students to gain empirical evidence in the field and to collect data for potential areas of improvement to the game and evaluation instruments (Hainey et al., 2014b). The current paper focuses on an evaluation of the results of students and professional staff using these two environments for learning.

The need to devise new ways of conducting interactive and immersive practice learning simulations was made more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the periods of enforced working and studying from home. The pandemic and the social distancing measures made it difficult and, in some cases, impossible to conduct face-to-face classes and practice learning in real settings. Healthcare and social work practitioners had to quickly adapt their teaching to the online environment in ways beneficial to the learners. Pan and Rajwani (2021) point out the central role of simulated practice is to “refine protocols, facilitate practice changes, uncover safety gaps, and train redeployed healthcare workers in unfamiliar roles”. Ying and Liaw (2022) argue the need to use different modalities in nursing education such as video and teleconferencing as well as computer simulations. Díaz-Guio et al. (2021) evaluate the effectiveness of online-synchronised clinical simulation in health science education focusing more precisely on briefing, simulated cases and debriefing. In a specially designed simulated practice environment, Musa et al. (2021) suggest that it is interactivity which “promotes higher order learning, increases teamwork and enhances the perception of authenticity”.

Therefore, investment in practice-based learning is key to ensuring that practitioners and professionals continue to meet changing service needs and engage in activities that support the growth and transformation of a practice and/or profession. The drive to grow the workforce so that the supply of competent practitioners and professionals keeps pace with demands of health, social and special education services create a tension around practice-based learning within a real-world context. Therefore, integrating practice learning into the context of 3D simulated practice learning environments may lead to greater learning motivation and thus to more effective learning when compared with traditional teaching methods.