Photo: Dr Olga Bogolyubova presenting
The "Serious Games – Developing Emotional Competence for Nursing Students" (SG4NS) project seminar was held on 24 October 2022. The event was organised by the Department of Nursing in collaboration with the Institute of Digital Games and the Department of Psychology.
The SG4NS project is an ERASMUS+ project led by the University of Minho, Portugal. The University of Malta is one of six European partners participating in the project.
Following introductions by Dr Olga Bogolyubova and Dr Maria Cassar, Dr Iro Voulgari presented attendees an eye opening demonstration of current available applications of Digital Games in higher education. Nurse academics Prof Lisa Gomez from the University of Minho, and Mr Daren Chircop and Dr Roderick Bugeja from the Department of Nursing at the University of Malta, shared the outputs of the project, including a Serious Game using VR which was presented as a learning tool towards the development of emotional competence amongst nursing students.
, a Simulation Director at the world leading Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore, USA shared the experience of their school in using VR in nurse education, to-date. Following her online delivery of a presentation, a vibrant discussion regarding the use of VR ensued.
The take home message for all was that cautious context - sensitive informed initiatives towards incorporating VR as a learning tool in nurse education hold significant potential. Research on this novel tool was discussed and the participation of academia in its effective development was highlighted.
