OSCase: Data Schemes, Architecture and Implementation details of Virtual Patient repurposing in Multi User Virtual Environments

Experiential game based learning has proven effective at engaging and enabling learners especially in medical education where the volume of the curriculum is as severe as its criticality. A mature and promising ICT tool for medical education is the Virtual Patient (VP). Web-based virtual patients have been established for quite some time, while efforts have been made to create content in multi user virtual environments (MUVEs). What is still missing is a streamlined method for transferring VPs from Web-based authoring and deployment platforms to MUVEs like OpenSim. This work describes the existing implementation context for repurposing VPs in the OS MUVE. Then it focuses on a novel OpenSim Case Datascheme and a supporting framework that facilitates this streamlined transfer according to previous repurposing strategies and efforts. Finally the future directions and the place of this work in the wider context of contemporary Virtual Learning Environments are explored.