AUTHENTIC LEARNING INTERACTIONS: MYTH OR REALITY? Mike Keppell Biomedical Multimedia Unit Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences The University of Melbourne, AUSTRALIA mkeppell@unimelb.edu.au Karen Kan, Louise Brearley Messer & Heather Bione School of Dental Science The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences The University of Melbourne, AUSTRALIA kcyhk@unimelb.edu.au ljbm@unimelb.edu.au bione@unimelb.edu.au Abstract This paper examines a project which utilises a virtual dental clinic and a fictitious eight year old patient - "Matthew" to situate students within an authentic learning environment. A case is presented which requires the student to examine clinical information about Matthew in the form of patient history, clinical slides, radiographs and expert information from teachers, psychologists and an endocrinologist. The dental student creates a legitimate treatment plan for Matthew by analysing information typically obtained in a real patient encounter. A situated- learning design was adopted as it provided a means of engaging the dental student with a legitimate case of a paediatric patient with diabetes. The student is required to make a treatment plan based on the information gleaned from the resources and then compare their reasoning with that of an expert paediatric dentist. An initial evaluation of the virtual dental clinic was undertaken in order to determine the perceptions of practicing dentists in relation to the case. Keywords authentic learning environments, situated cognition, case-based learning, multimedia design, paediatric dentistry, virtual patient encounters Authentic Learning Environments Authentic learning experiences are "those which are problem- or case-based, that immerse the learner in the situation requiring him or her to acquire skills or knowledge in order to solve the problem or manipulate the situation" (Jonassen, Mayes, & McAleese, 1992, p. 235). "Authentic tasks enable students to immerse themselves in the culture of the academic domain, much like an apprentice" (Young, 1993, p. 43). Interest in environments that immerse students in authentic learning experiences, where the meaning of knowledge and skills are realistically embedded, has been longstanding (Dewey, 1938; Piaget, 1952). More recently, attempts to enhance cognition in authentic learning-performing tasks have become widespread (e.g., Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbuilt, 1991, 1992, 1993). The need for realistic experience and real-world problem-solving is also advocated. Ramsden (1987) suggests that university graduates are not obtaining deep conceptual knowledge that will allow them to think like experts in their discipline. We contend that a key role of a university education is to produce health professionals who are capable of solving complex and ill-structured problems and have the ability to reflect on their professional practice. This practitioner is capable of reflecting on the