Healthcare Education Goes Virtual: Jefferson At Forefront Of Technological Revolution

College of Health Professions Attracts Media Attention by Collaborating to Create Interactive Online Community in Second Life

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — August 2, 2007 —   The College of Health Professions at Thomas Jefferson University has recently been in the headlines for its technological leadership among local universities.  Jefferson, along with Temple University, University of the Arts and Drexel University, has begun building virtual online classrooms using the Second Life program.  Although Jefferson is not the first to set up an interactive educational community in Second Life, it distinguishes itself as a leader of virtual healthcare education, experimenting with modules for topics such as sex education.

Jefferson’s presence in Second Life has been mentioned in several recent articles.  The July 28, 2007, Philadelphia Inquirer article “Adventurous Avatars” touts the benefits of Second Life as not just an interactive online community but also as an education tool.  According to the Inquirer, more than 200 universities around the globe, including Harvard, MIT and Stanford, have jumped on the newest e-learning trend and have colonized virtual property in Second Life.  The educational possibilities in Second Life are endless; students can view lectures, take practice quizzes and chat with other students and faculty.  “I think there’s a lot of potential for health education with virtual simulators,” said Susan Toth-Cohen, associate professor of occupational therapy (OT) and director of the OT doctoral program at Jefferson.  Toth-Cohen just began a two-year lease of two properties in Second Life to test its possible uses for the College of Health Professions. 

Toth-Cohen was instrumental in extending the application of Second Life into the field of sexual health education by collaborating with Maged Kamel Boulos and Steve Wheeler from the University of Plymouth to apply for a community development grant from Education UK island.  The Chronicle of Higher Education and Salon.com, an independent online magazine, both covered Jefferson’s contribution to educating the public about sexual heath.  According to the Chronicle, Britain’s University of Plymouth and Toth-Cohen’s project in Second Life is designed to educate people about contraception and sexual health. Visitors to the virtual community can participate in one-to-one sex counseling, find sex-education materials, and even grab free condoms from a dispensing machine.  The goal is to ‘help people learn how to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies and promote equitable sexual relationships.’ Toth-Cohen realizes there may be skepticism about the role of occupational therapy in promoting sexual health.  “People may wonder, ‘What does occupational therapy have to do with sex and sexual education?’ as the connection is not immediately obvious.  OT is really about ‘skills for the job of living,’ which includes the ability to make lifestyle choices that promote health and well-being. Sexuality is considered an essential aspect of the whole person and is incorporated into the OT practice framework as both an activity of daily living and as social participation.” 

Catherine Price, author of the Salon.com article, “Sex ed in Second Life: Could a virtual island teach students about real world sex,” applauds the creators of the Sexual Health SIM for their tech-savvy foresight.  “It’d be easy to dismiss this as just an isolated project in an imaginary world, but I think it has great potential as a mainstream educational tool. Creating a virtual world devoted to sex education allows a lot more exposure to different views toward sex than does a traditional classroom environment.  The result would be a far more balanced education.  Using a virtual experience like Second Life could be an inexpensive, effective and, dare I say it, fun way to educate students about sex.”

To read the official blog of “A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life,” please visit:
http://sl-sexualhealth.org.uk

To read the complete articles, please visit:
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20070728_Adventurous_avatars.html
http://philly.metro.us/metro/local/article/Groups_hope_to_cash_in_on_a_virtual_version_of_Philly/9517.html
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2007/07/31/sex_in_second_life/print.html
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2260/sex-education-arrives-in-second-life

To learn more about the possibilities of health education in the virtual realm, contact Susan Toth-Cohen at (215) 503-9610.

Contact:
Jacqueline Paquet
215-503-1918
Jacqueline.Paquet@jefferson.edu

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