Re-use and exchange of an Opensim platform based learning environment among different medical specialties for clinical scenarios

Recent technological developments have enabled the use of virtual three dimensional platforms for educational uses. In this paper, an application based upon the Opensim platform for use within medical education and development of clinical skills is presented together with its associated repurposing so as to reconstruct and change this environment so that it fits different medical specialties. The objective of this work was to present the repurposing aspects of modifying a learning environment and adapting it to the needs of different medical specialties in an effort to reuse (and therefore share) learning content among several specialties. Initially, a 3-Dimensional environment was created by using the Opensimulator platform for use in the era of cardiology. Thereupon, the virtual environment was modified so as to be oriented to the needs of psychiatry educational needs. The reconstruction of the learning environment and context and the reformation of the educational scenario offer the ability to reuse it adapted to the needs of each medical domain. In tandem, educational standards were adopted, specifically, the IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM), to enable the description of this medical content and to support academic teaching. The long term scope of this work within the overall developments in the area of advancing the repurposing of medical educational content is discussed.