KE2 Affordances of Technologies: ClinVP Dr George Ke 24 th March 2011 Clinical Thinking in 3D

Affordances of what??? “A characteristic of an object, especially relating to its potential utility, which can be inferred from visual or other perceptual signals; a quality or utility which is readily apparent or available.” – Oxford English Dictionary “An affordance is a quality of an object, or an environment, that allows an individual to perform an action.” –Wikipedia 2

Affordances from user’s point of view “what actions the user perceives to be possible rather than what is true.” – Just Noticeable Difference by Don Norman “Does the user perceive that clicking on that object is a meaningful, useful action, with a known outcome? ” – Just Noticeable Difference by Don Norman 3

Affordances of ClinVP Allows students to –practise clinical skills (history taking, examination, investigation, differential diagnosis and patient management) –apply clinical skills to real-world scenarios –see the consequences of their actions as feedback –learn from mistakes in an interactive and engaging manner in an immersive learning environment in a safe environment 4

Affordances of Technologies Artificial Intelligence –allows conversations in natural language with VP –learns new conversations with human users –tracks user interactions –facilitates more realistic history taking and examination A.L.I.C.E. chatbot 5

Affordances of Technologies Semantic Web and Ontologies –model patient data (anatomy, conditions, symptom, etc.) –support decision making –formulate constructive feedback 6

Affordances of Technologies Virtual World –provides immersive and situated learning in 3D –allows interaction with VP and/or other users –offers more direct interaction with objects –offers a sense of reality Perioperative demo 7

Affordances of Technologies 88 Complex learning paths are possible Mr. Brown attending the GP with condition X Diagnosis Mr. Brown’s condition worsens Test conducted and results interpreted Mr. Brown does not respond to treatment B Mr. Brown is cured Mr. Brown is dead Send Mr. Brown homeSend Mr. Brown to the hospital Send Mr. Brown home Treatment A Treatment B Mr. Brown comes back to the GP Treatment C

Affordances from user’s point of view Does the user think the technologies support the action they perform to achieve their goals, i.e. learning? False affordance –while we want to make ClinVP as realistic as possible, technical limitations can lead users to mistakes and misunderstandings Follow-up evaluation on student behaviour and performance is required to assess students’ perception 9

Summary Affordances = possibilities, potential, user perceptions Artificial Intelligence, Semantic Web, Ontologies and Virtual World With technologies, we can support more complex learning design Technologies would only work when the user thinks they work 10