CIN Plus Section Editor: Linda Q. Thede, PhD, RN-BC CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing • February 2012 63 Collaborative Practice Through Simulations in a Multiuser Virtual Environment Maximilian Veltman, MSN, RN, CPNP Kelley Connor, MSN, RN Michelle Honey, PhD, RN Scott Diener, PhD David Bodily, BSN, RN Boise State University (Mr Veltman and Ms Connor); University of Auckland (Drs Honey and Diener); and Western Wyoming Community College (Mr Bodily) DOI: 10.1097/NXN.0b013e31824a8b89 Content delivery and clinical education methods have been changing over the last decade in nearly all health professions. 1 Nowhere is this more evident than in the clinical aspects of nursing education. 2 Although nursing has a history of significant clinical experience in its educational programs, schools are increasingly faced Key Points: • Second Life as a platform for collaborative teaching • Developing a collaborative Second Life Simulation • Piloting a clinical simulation in the United States and New Zealand with challenges related to limited clinical placement availability. Many schools of nursing are beginning to explore alternative means of providing a strong clinical component to their courses while maintaining high quality. 3 Along with the use of clinical simulation in laboratories housed on campus, there has also been the adoption of the use of virtual environments as a potential platform for clinical simulation. 2 The use of multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs) has garnered considerable attention by clinicians and educators and is beginning to grow in popularity and practicality for many professions. 2,4 Among these MUVEs, Second Life (SL), created by Linden Lab (San Francisco, CA), has emerged as one of the most popular environments, with more than 15 million account-registered users and about 1 million active users (users who log in at least once per week). 5 Using a basic free account, users are able to gain a sense of presence by creating a representation of themselves called an avatar. Using the avatar, they are able to interact with spaces, objects, and each other in a real-time environment. COLLABORATION International collaboration in educational research is not new, but with the advancement of technological tools, it has had an impact on how the process occurs. The use of wikis, language translation programs, and asynchronous communication are tools that have been identified as having an impact on the ability of multi- national teams to accomplish research. 6,7 In nursing, collaborative research that crosses borders is quite common. 8 Research teams must often communicate Copyright @ 2012 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.