Pharmatopia – a virtual island for real-world teaching

The faculty is leading the way in worldwide teaching innovation with the development of a virtual hi-tech teaching tool that is being enthusiastically adopted by leading pharmacy schools from around the globe.

Rapid changes facing the pharmacy profession recently led to a comprehensive review of the Bachelor of Pharmacy and the way aspects of the course are taught.

About Pharmatopia

A key initiative is the development of an interactive virtual tabletting research and development laboratory, available online through Second Life, which gives students the opportunity to complete a range of activities that are available 24/7. Developed by the faculty, this new virtual teaching model is a shared practice model involving ten leading pharmacy schools from around the world.

Monash has purchased a closed-access island (not available to the public) in Second Life, a virtual world,  available to staff and students at participating universities.  The island has been christened ‘Pharmatopia’, and as the name suggests, aims to develop a pharmacy education ‘oasis’.  The cost of the island is low and access for students is free.

A global community of shared practice

Access to immersive environments provides an opportunity for collaboration across time and place.  The Pharmatopia project incorporates ten schools of pharmacy across the globe. 

This project aims to assess the effectiveness of immersive environments to complement, rather than replace, traditional teaching methods. Face-to-face teaching remains a vital component to student learning.

• Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University
• University of Sydney
• University of Queensland
• University of London, The School of Pharmacy
• Nottingham University, UK
• University of Keele, UK
• Uppsala University, Sweden
• University of Copenhagen
• University of North Carolina
• University of Kansas

This diagram defines the possibilities on the island, not the physical layout.

Second Life – a virtual world

Second Life (SL) is a three dimensional virtual world, accessible to anyone with a web browser, internet connection (cable or DSL), and the Second Life client application from the Second Life website.  The minimum and recommended technical requirements can be found at http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php.

Developed by the Linden Lab in the USA, it is inhabited by millions of residents from around the world who interact in real time, regardless of physical location. Residents take the form of avatars (a digital representation of a user in a virtual world) and interact within the ‘in world’ experience. 

The potential offered by virtual worlds such as Second Life include the ability to interact easily and cost-effectively (basic membership is free) in a form that might be expensive or even risky in the real world (e.g expensive or dangerous laboratory equipment).

Resources

Second Life: http://www.secondlife.com
Second Life Educators Forum (SLED) : https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/educators
Educause: transforming education through information technologies http://connect.educause.edu/