[Cognitive research about the use of virtual worlds among the students enrolled to the faculty of medicine and surgery "Campus Bio-Medico University" in Rome].
OBJECTIVE
The main difference between a virtual reality and a generic representation is to be directly involved into the action you are performing. As a matter of fact, within the shift from real to virtual world, our biological physique does not mutate but is amplified and connected to the virtual world by technological interfaces. Training using a virtual reality simulator is an option to supplement (or replace) standard training. One of the two main goals of our study is to test, at first, how much students enrolled to the Faculty of Medicine at "University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome" are familiar with synthetic worlds, how long they have been using them and how they would like their Avatar to look like. Moreover, the second aim is to collect students' opinion about the use of virtual, interactive environments to enable learning and participation in dynamic, problem based, clinical, virtual simulations. Simulations might be used to allow learners to make mistakes safely in lieu of real life situations, learn from those mistakes and ultimately to improve performances by subsequent avoidance of those mistakes.


METHODS
The selected approach to the study is based on a semi-structured questionnaire made of 14 questions administered to all the medical students.


RESULTS
Most of the students appear not to be very confident with virtual worlds mostly because of a lack of interest. However, a large majority of them are likely to use a virtual world for fun or escaping from reality. Students would select and customize their Avatar by giving her/him the same sexual identity, same figure, same social class but different employment.


CONCLUSIONS
It is important to notice that a wide majority of the students is interested in practicing on a virtual world in order to manage new experiences and being able to face them; their willing is to get benefits from the ability to make mistakes in a safe environment as well as to record a positive impact on their understanding.
Tambone
V
V
Istituto di Filosofi a dell'Agire Scientifico e Tecnologico, Università Campus Biomedico, Roma, Italia.
Alessi
A
A
Macchi
I
I
Milighetti
S
S
Muzii
L
L
D003198:Computer Simulation; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D012384:Rome; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires