Game‐Based Learning in Virtual Worlds: A Multiuser Online Game for Medical Undergraduate Radiology Education within Second Life

Abstract

Game‐based learning can have a positive impact on medical education, and virtual worlds have great potential for supporting immersive online games. It is necessary to reinforce current medical students' knowledge about radiological anatomy and radiological signs. To meet this need, the objectives of this study were: to design a competition‐based game in the virtual world, Second Life and to analyze the students' perceptions of Second Life and the game, as well as to analyze the medium‐term retention of knowledge and the potential impact on the final grades. Ninety out of 197 (45.6%) third‐year medical students voluntarily participated in an online game based on self‐guided presentations and multiple‐choice tests over six 6‐day stages. Participants and non‐participants were invited to perform an evaluation questionnaire about the experience and a post‐exposure knowledge test. Participants rated the experience with mean scores equal to or higher than 8.1 on a 10‐point scale, highlighting the professor (9.5 ± 1.1; mean ± SD) and the virtual environment (8.9 ± 1.1). Participants had better results in the post‐exposure test than non‐participants (59.0 ± 13.5 versus 45.3 ± 11.5; P < 0.001) and a lower percentage of answers left blank (6.7 ± 8.4 versus 13.1 ± 12.9; P = 0.014). Competitive game‐based learning within Second Life is an effective and well‐accepted means of teaching core radiological anatomy and radiological signs content to medical students. The higher medium‐term outcomes obtained by participants may indicate effective learning with the game. Additionally, valuable positive perceptions about the game, the educational contents, and the potential benefit for their education were discovered among non‐participants.

A team-based competition for undergraduate medical students to learn radiology within the virtual world Second Life

“…Although the League of Rays is not a medical simulation game, but a contest developed on an imaginary island, which provides learning reinforcement on basic radiological anatomy and semiology. It has been well valued by medical students competing individually [ 28 ] and also by teams, as this study shows, with great recognition for the design and organisation of the contest, the educational content and the adaptation to their medical training. This team competition could be considered as a mandatory activity of the course, but when individual participation in League of Rays is mandatory, the acceptance of virtual world technology decreases, the opinion about the game worsens, and the average score in the game decreases (unpublished observations of the authors).…”

“…Students who participated in the game were asked to complete an experience evaluation questionnaire, based on that from previous studies [ 28 ], consisting of 23 statements with answers on a five-point Likert scale (7 about Second Life, 8 about the game, 4 about the presentation of the different stages and 4 about the multi-choice tests), an evaluation of 1 to 10 points of various aspects of the project and a text box to add open comments (See Additional file 1 : Appendix 1). No personal identification was included in the evaluations, and they were analysed anonymously.…”

“…The open comments included in the questionnaire were analysed through collaborative systematic coding by group consensus agreement [ 30 ], considering the codes obtained in previous studies on League of Rays [ 28 ]. In a first consensus meeting, four first-layer codes were established: positive, negative, suggestions, and team.…”

“…It was designed as an individual competition during the four-month Radiology course, taught in the third year of medicine. Several editions have been previously held, with voluntary [ 28 ] and compulsory participation. The authors hypothesise that team competition in a learning game like League of Rays can be carried out with good acceptance by students, favouring collaborative work and providing positive learning outcomes.…”

Reflections about Learning Radiology inside the Multi-User Immersive Environment Second Life® during Confinement by Covid-19

“…Second Life ® is not a new educational resource in the subject of Radiology, as it has been used since the 2011-12 academic year without interruption [1][2][3][4][5]. This has allowed the virtual environment to be prepared for use in this critical situation.…”