LAS's Collaborative Virtual Gaming Simulation

LAS plays an important role in supporting numerous e-learning and virtual gaming initiatives. These include Open Educational Resources and online Textbooks, such as Pop-up Retail Strategies in an Omnichannel Context, and the development of online resources for mental health education and serious games for nursing and healthcare.

With a talented and diverse group of over 100 actors, LAS works with the creators of these e-learning projects to edit scripts, cast and then train actors to take part.

As part of a collaboration with George Brown College, Centennial College, nurse educators at Sick Kids Hospital, and Ryerson University, LAS@R helped cast a virtual gaming simulation based on a post-op pediatric clinical appointment targeted at nursing students and nurse practitioners. 

This virtual simulation features an interactive game in which the learner provides care to a 10-year-old male appendectomy patient and his mother. It is used to support learning by providing a common real-life situation in a virtual setting and allows them to practice critical thinking and the skills they have learned.

This simulation received the Best in Show Runner up Award in Serious Gaming and Virtual Environments at the 2016 International Meeting of Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH).

One of the earliest online projects LAS@R developed, in collaboration with Ryerson Interprofessional Education (RU-IPE), is a simulation centred on the hypothetical community of Wolcott Creek. The simulation focuses on a community revitalization project and challenges learners to work collaboratively to create a viable plan that reflects the needs and realities of both professional and community stakeholders.

Video resources, learner guides and facilitation support were developed as a means of expanding the use of the traditional, in-class simulation to an online learning environment.