Design of Novel Teaching Episodes in Medical Education Using Emerging Experiential Digital Assets: Technology Enabled Medical Education Beyond the Gimmicky

Medical education has always been about experiential hands on training to prepare future doctors to create the necessary skillset to deal with the sensitive and immediate nature of their work. Contemporary experiential technologies such as Virtual and Augmented reality offer a realistic but consequence free test-bed in which to interact safely and cope with emotional challenges pertaining to the realistic tasks simulated through these media. This work describes the design guidelines and workflow for incorporating these novel virtual assets in medical education through serious role play learning episodes. This approach consists of the case selection, the identification of roles, information flow and narrative requirements, implementation of technological narrative tools and implementation of the learning episode. Using a specific example of case transfer through this model we describe the process, outline implementation, assessment and technological considerations. Finally rationale for this work as a counterweight to technological hype fluctuations and integration of these media into the mainstream curricula is discussed.