2009 ALISE Conference

2

Virtual Reality, Informatics, and Professional Education: A Report on Collaborations between Library and Information Science and Public Health Education Programs

Feili Tu

tuf@mailbox.sc.edu

Virtual Reality, Informatics, and Professional Education: A Report on Collaborations between Library and Information Science and Public Health Education Programs

Context

At a state university in a Southern state, both the library and information science (LIS) and the public health (PH) education programs have large distance education (DE) units.  To enhance LIS education, the LIS program has built a simulated instruction, research, and practicum center in the Second Life (SL) virtual reality (VR) World.  The center has several components:  a library (including a reference department and a multimedia classroom with a capacity for 20 students online at the same time), a Zen garden, an auditorium, and a commons.  The vision of this creation fosters excellence in LIS education and scholarship and beyond by (1) training students in information services and (2) evaluating their performance skills based on their ability to apply technology, access appropriate information resources, and form professional collaborations.

Objective

One aspect of the research agenda of the LIS program is related to the use of information technology and the Internet to deliver high-quality health information and services to health professionals and the general public.  In this paper, the authors introduce a cross-disciplinary approach for the collaboration of two faculties (i.e., LIS and PH) in designing and delivering an evidence-based public health practice (PHEBP) curriculum.  Collaboration goals are to: 1) explore the integration of VR and evidence-based (EB) health information in PH education; 2) provide practicum experience on health information literacy instruction for LIS students; 3) investigate whether a simulated VR environment can enhance professional education in DE format; 4) examine potential future collaborations related to joint curriculum design, community outreach, and research development between these two programs.  Two instructional sessions concentrating on the uses of VR environment and EB health resources have been developed for two different PH courses.  These sessions were delivered by the authors (including an LIS graduate teaching assistant) in the multimedia classroom in the virtual center in the SL World developed by the LIS program.

Research Design

The methodology includes survey research studies, with both qualitative and quantitative research used for data analysis, interviews, and case studies.  Data are being collected through research instruments designed by the co-primary investigators.  Students in the LIS and PH programs who have used and are currently using this simulated VR facility and students in PH programs who had the two instructional sessions will be surveyed.  An LIS graduate who has been involved in the design and delivery of the two classes will be interviewed.

This research is ongoing; the data collection is also ongoing.  The collaborations aim to integrate EBPH practice, VR, and PH informatics into professional PH education.  LIS professional expertise promotes the uses of EBPH resources and assists in improving PH professionals’ information literacy skills.