Second Life and Classroom Environments: Comparing Small Group Teaching and Learning in Developing Clinical Reasoning...

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medical Education
• Medical Simulation
• Clinical Reasoning Development

Background:

• Clinical reasoning is crucial for medical professionals, traditionally taught via small group discussions.
• Exploring innovative teaching methods to enhance clinical reasoning skills is essential.
• Virtual platforms present a novel avenue for medical education and skill development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of teaching and learning clinical reasoning through the virtual platform Second Life (SL) versus traditional classroom settings.
• To assess veterinary students' clinical reasoning competency in both virtual and traditional learning environments.

Main Methods:

• First-semester veterinary students were divided into two groups: virtual (n=34) via SL and traditional classroom (n=41).
• Both groups engaged in three small group meetings facilitated to discuss a clinical case.
• A seven-item clinical reasoning rubric was used for teaching, learning, and assessment, with scores ranging from 0 to 28.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in overall clinical reasoning scores between SL and traditional groups (SL: M=14.0, SD=2.6; Classroom: M=12.2, SD=2.6).
• Positive associations were found between gathering historical information, physical examination information, and prioritizing patient problems for all participants.
• The SL cohort demonstrated significantly higher rubric scores for gathering historical information (p=0.03), gathering physical examination information (p<0.01), and prioritizing patient problems (p=0.02).

Conclusions:

• Small group interaction in both Second Life and traditional classroom settings provides a comparable educational platform for developing clinical reasoning skills.
• Virtual reality environments like SL show promise for enhancing specific aspects of clinical reasoning, particularly information gathering and problem prioritization.
• These findings support the integration of virtual platforms into medical education to supplement traditional teaching methods for clinical reasoning development.