Repurposing existing virtual patients
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The overall aim of the project was to repurpose 6 virtual patients from the University of Heidelberg in Germany to UK language, culture, and pedagogy and to embed the repurposed virtual patients within an accredited SGUL module, and evaluate the impact of the resources.
Executive Summary
In the process, virtual patients (VPs) were content enriched. A new feature was added; VPs were turned from linear case studies into branching VPs that allowed students to take clinical decisions while following the case through, and explore the consequences of those decisions.
The project produced a number of outputs of considerable use to students, staff and the wider JISC ommunity. 8 VPs were repurposed, enriched, peer-reviewed, copyright cleared and placed in the public domain. Through the project website, Jorum Open and other well respected learning object repositories of open content. The VPs have been repurposed to be future proof with respect to intellectual property rights through content clearance by content providers and patients; and then by each individual VP covered by a Creative Commons license for future intended use by others. Internally, the project has provided St George’s with an opportunity to refresh and galvanise an existing module with high quality interactive resources that were integrated into the curricula. This has been another key step by the E-Learning Unit at St George’s in working towards a Virtual Patient based curriculum for the Medical course.
Externally, The project has collaborated with international groups such as the Creative Commons Learn (academic strand of the Creative Commons), the Electronic Virtual Patients Programme (European Commission initiative) and the MedBiquitous consortium (VP technical standards group) to make the open Virtual Patients suitable prepared for use not just in a national context but worldwide. Having completed the repurposing and embedding, the team turned its attention to evaluation of the repurposing process, and the final outputs, through questionnaires focus groups, and interviews with students, staff, and members from the wider community. All of the student feedback from these evaluation studies strongly supported the quality and value of the VP resources as a unique learning resource, largely because the VPs filled a pedagogic gap in the teaching of clinical decision making skills. The only alternative resource was real patients. Staff and students highlighted small technical and interface issues that were easily addressed.
The team have presented the findings of the work at major conferences such as the Association of Medical Education (AMEE). The project has also been announced and celebrated in editions of the Medical Teacher journal and the Higher Education Academy for Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine. These engagements have led to other interested institutions already adopting the repurposed and enriched VPs from the project.
The project highlighted several important messages that built upon previous projects involved in repurposing of reuseable learning objects. Repurposing resources needs to be worth the effort. The experience of many projects, demonstrates the limitations of repurposing learning resources that are of limited value to teachers and students, because alternatives are easily available 'elsewhere', with or without clearance. Resources with limited value are difficult to sustain beyond the life of the funding which ‘repurposed’ them, because there are no drivers to do so. Otherwise the resource of choice for the student is the traditional textbook.
By contrast, VPs are expensive to create and offer unique learning opportunities, and so they tick the right boxes for value as assessed by teachers and learners.