Becoming a skilled professional requires the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and the practice of skills under the guidance of an expert. The idea of learning-throughapprenticeship is long accepted in medicine and, more generally, in the health sciences, where practicum courses are an essential part of most curricula. Because of the high cost of apprenticeship programs -mentors can usually supervise few trainees and trainees may need long apprenticeship periods -simulation has long been adopted as a learning-by-doing training method that can supplement apprenticeship in many professional and engineering programs, including the health sciences. In this paper, we describe our experience developing virtual world-based training systems for two healthcare contexts. In one, procedural training was emphasized, while the other focused on teaching communication skills. In each case, we developed a custom set of tools to meet the needs of that context. We present an analysis of the case studies, and lessons drawn from this analysis.

The aim of this paper is to compare selected iterative algorithms for inconsistency reduction in pairwise comparisons by Monte Carlo simulations. We perform simulations for pairwise comparison matrices of the order n = 4 and n = 8 with the initial inconsistency 0.10 < CR < 0.80 and entries drawn from Saaty's fundamental scale. Subsequently, we evaluate the algorithms' performance with respect to four measures that express the degree of original preference preservation. Our results indicate that no algorithm outperforms all other algorithms with respect to every measure of preference preservation. The Xu and Wei's algorithm is the best with regard to the preservation of an original priority vector and the ranking of objects, the Step-by-Step algorithm best preserves the original preferences expressed in the form of a pairwise comparison matrix, and the algorithm of Szybowski keeps the most matrix entries unchanged during inconsistency reduction.

Virtual worlds offer a new application development platform, and are particularly appealing for creating new types of educational training programs. However, in order to enable the adoption of this platform by instructors, special-purpose authoring tools are necessary to enable domain experts to create and maintain their lessons plans. In this paper, we propose a framework for virtual world-based training, which uses the BPEL workflow language to organize educational content. The framework uses a web services-based approach to connect the content, workflows, and virtual world, thus avoiding dependence on a particular virtual world. Finally, we present a case study, currently in progress, designed to assess the utility of the framework.

Virtual interactive environments such as Second Life are emerging as innovative tools that can support and enhance learning in various educational domains. However, for the educational practitioner new to these environments, developing educational settings and activities in a virtual environment can appear to be technically complex and beyond their area of expertise. This case study describes some of the technical challenges encountered and the solutions derived during the development of a virtual world for the delivery of a health science interprofessional communications course.