JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The immersive virtual world platform Second Life (SL) was conceived 25 years ago, when Philip Rosedale founded Linden Lab in 1999 with the intention of developing computing hardware that would allow people to immerse themselves in a virtual world. This initial effort was transformed four years later into Second Life, a universally accessible virtual world, centered on the user, with commercial transactions and even its own virtual currency, which fully connects with the concept of Metaverse, recently repopularized after the statements of the CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook) in October 2021.

Objective:

Second Life is considered the best-known virtual environment among higher education professionals. This article aims to review medical education in the Second Life metaverse, its evolution, its possibilities and limitations and future perspectives, focusing especially on medical education experiences, during undergraduate, residency, and Continuing Medical Education (CME).

Methods:

The concept of metaverse and virtual worlds is described, making special reference to SL, its conceptual philosophy, historical evolution, technical aspects and capabilities for higher education. A narrative review of the existing literature has been performed, including at the same time a point of view from our teaching team, after an uninterrupted practical experience of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in the last 13 years, with more than 3,700 users and 10 publications on the subject.

Results:

From an educational point of view, SL has the advantages of being persistent 24/7, and creating in the student the important feeling of "being there" and co-presence. This, together with the reproduction of the 3D world, real-time interaction and the quality of voice communication, make the immersive experiences unique, generating engagement and a fluid interrelation of students with each other and with their teachers. Various groups of researchers in medical education have developed experiences during these years, which have shown that courses, seminars, workshops and conferences, PBL experiences, evaluations, teamwork, gamification, medical simulation and virtual OSCEs can be successfully carried out. Acceptance from students and faculty is generally positive, recognizing its usefulness for undergraduate medical education and CME.

Conclusions:

After 25 years of its conception, SL has proven to be a virtual platform that connects with the concept of metaverse, an open system, with global access, interconnected where all humans can access to socialize or share products, for free or using a virtual currency. Second Life remains active and technologically improved since its creation. It is necessary to continue carrying out educational experiences, outlining the organization, objectives and content, measuring the real educational impact, in order to make SL a tool of more universal use. Clinical Trial: N/A