Conceptualizing the Overall Simulation Experience
When conceptualizing the overall development process, you need to consider the focus of the virtual gaming simulation and placement within a course. Once you determine the focus, you can begin to design the overall learner experience.
Reflect on the following questions:
- Who is the learner? (e.g., novice learners, post-graduate)
- What is the learner’s educational level? (e.g., 1st semester in Year 1)
- What is the learner’s clinical practice experience (e.g., medical unit, community health?)
- How will you incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines
Once you have determined which learners you are building the virtual simulation for, you can begin the process of creating and identifying your purpose statement, learning outcomes, and learning objectives.
Purpose Statement
Writing a clear and concise purpose statement will drive the design of the virtual simulation. The purpose statement should guide and provide direction as to what you want your learner to accomplish by the end of the simulation. When writing the purpose statement, reflect on what you want your students to achieve. For example, is it increasing knowledge for a particularly challenging concept or becoming more competent in a complex skill?
What do students themselves want to achieve? Reflect on their thoughts and ideas that were shared at the beginning stages of this process. Collaborating with and integrating the student voice is important in creating the purpose statement.
Virtual Gaming Simulation (VGS) Model
To begin the process for creating a purpose statement of our VGS Model, our team collaborated and brainstormed ideas about challenging concepts students encounter during the four years of their nursing program. Our team consists of students in Year 2, 3, and 4 of a baccalaureate nursing degree program, and two faculty members who teach in that program as well as a practical nursing program.
Depending on the level of learner, educational background, and clinical experience, each team member identified potential learning gaps within the program. We reflected on our own experiences with virtual simulations and the nursing program. We discussed our ideas as a team over Zoom, then took time to reflect on our own, and then came back together over Zoom to identify the final scenario. Everyone agreed that there was a need for additional teaching strategies focusing on medication administration in the Year 2 nursing practice course. The team then identified a client commonly cared for by a Year 2 nursing student that would require complex medication administration.
Once we identified the specific course and learning needs, the team began to discuss a purpose statement to guide the virtual simulation.
For the VGS model, the team collaborated to create the following purpose statement:
The purpose of this virtual gaming simulation is to assess and provide nursing actions, including medication administration, to a client admitted to the hospital for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Learning Outcomes
Following the creation of the purpose statement, the next sequential step is to develop the learning outcomes for the virtual simulation. Learning outcomes are the larger goals that describe what the learner should demonstrate through the application of knowledge and skills by the end of the virtual simulation. The outcomes should address the identified learning needs and refer back to the purpose statement. For a virtual gaming simulation, there are usually 3–5 learning outcomes. The number of learning outcomes will depend on the length of the simulation.
Learning outcomes should be concise, applicable to the level of the learner, realistic for the case scenario, and should be achieved by the end of the virtual simulation. The learning outcomes will be further broken down into specific learning objectives which will help you when developing your decision point questions.
Let’s look at some examples of learning outcomes used for the VGS model:
Virtual Gaming Simulation (VGS) Model
Remember: The learning outcome should link back to the purpose statement.The purpose of this virtual gaming simulation is to assess and provide nursing actions, including medication administration, to a client admitted to the hospital for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Learning Outcomes:
- Demonstrate clinical judgement while assessing a client with acute COPD exacerbation.
- Analyze cues related to the client’s admitting diagnosis and medical history.
- Demonstrate knowledge and skills on safe medication administration.
- Prioritize nursing actions to manage a client with acute COPD exacerbation.
- Apply therapeutic communication skills when caring for an acute client.
Learning Objectives
Once the learning outcomes have been clearly identified, the next step is to break the outcomes into learning objectives. Learning objectives are more specific statements that describe the tasks, skills, and abilities that the learners need to demonstrate throughout the simulation to achieve the learning outcomes. Each learning objective should link to one of the learning outcomes.
When creating learning objectives, it is suggested to use Bloom’s taxonomy action verbs. The higher levels (i.e., applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating) encourages the learner to demonstrate their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. These objectives will help formulate your decision, point questions, and shape the storyline of the VGS. This will be discussed further on the next page.
Virtual Gaming Simulation (VGS) Model
As a team, following the creation of the purpose statement, we then collaborated to identify potential learning outcomes and learning objectives to assist in the development of our sample VGS scenario. This process helps to guide the writing of the decision point questions for the virtual simulation. Students expressed their thoughts surrounding what specific learning activities within the simulation would benefit them in developing their future nursing practice.
Your learning objectives should link to a specific learning outcome. For example:
Learning Outcome # 3: Demonstrate safe and accurate medication administration practices.
Potential Learning Objectives for Learning Outcome # 3 could include:
- List the 3 checks and 10 rights of medication administration.
- Calculate accurate insulin dosages using the sliding scale.
- Explain the three College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) medication principles of authority, safety, and competence.
The following concept map is an example depicting the relationship between the learning outcomes (LOs) and learning objectives in the virtual gaming simulation process. In this image, there are five potential learning outcomes (LOs) which are the larger goals linking back to the purpose statement. Each of these branches off into several potential learning objectives or demonstratable tasks, skills, and abilities to meet the larger learning outcomes (LOs).
When creating your learning outcomes and learning objectives, you can refer back to Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid.
Educator Tip
In conceptualizing your overall virtual gaming simulation, consider the development of the following:
- A clear, concise purpose statement.
- Creation of 3–5 learning outcomes that reflect your purpose statement.
- From each identified learning outcome, write 2–3 learning objectives using Bloom’s taxonomy action verbs.
Completion of these important initial actions will lead to the next phase of the virtual gaming simulation, which is creating the case scenario and storyline.
Insights from the Student Team
Student team members play an important role in conceptualizing the overall virtual gaming simulation. Click the + sign on the image below to listen to the different faculty and student perspectives while working on the brainstorming idea for our virtual gaming simulation.
What was one thing that stuck out to you during our brainstorming session?
Additional Resource
International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL): Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice™
The Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best PracticeTM Outcomes and Objectives provides guidance on how to formulate effective outcome and objectives for your virtual simulation.
Reference
Miller, C., Deckers, C., Jones, M., Wells-Beede, E., & McGee, E. (2021). Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best PracticeTM Outcomes and Objectives. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 58, 40–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2021.08.013
Attributions
The Scholarship of Writing in Nursing Education:1st Canadian Edition by Jennifer Lapum, Oona St-Amant, Michelle Hughes, Andy Tan, Arina Bogdan, Frances Dimaranan, Rachel Frantzke, and Nada Savicevic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
Using Virtual Gaming Simulation: An Educator’s Guide by Margaret Verkuyl, Sandy Goldsworthy, and Lynda Atack is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
Reference
Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [May 05, 2023] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.
