Fostering student nurses' self-regulated learning with the Second Life environment: An empirical study

Aim/Purpose This study investigated the potential use of Second Life (SL) to facilitate nurs-ing students' confidence and motivation, as well as its impact on their self-regulated learning development. Background The current emphasis on nursing education in general has resulted in more consideration of different virtual learning environments as a means for as-sessing individuals' learning in a healthcare context. Methodology A quantitative research approach employing the survey method was used in this study. A model fit for Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique on 218 participants was produced to estimate the direct effect of environmental elements in terms of environment content design, environment interactivity, and environment functionality on student nurses' behaviour in terms of motivation and confi-dence. In addition, the direct effect of student nurses' behaviour on the devel-opment of their self-regulated learning was also examined and discussed. Two SL medical scenarios were designed to facilitate nurse students' mastery of the learning task. Contribution This study shows the potential of using SL for empowering nurses' self-regulated learning and collaborative learning. It extends the current understand-ing on how SL can assess nurses to learn about clinical related matters through the control of teleported characters (avatars), thus enhancing self-regulation. Findings This study found that SL content design, functionality, and interactivity can positively affect nursing students' learning by providing them with the necessary elements to stimulate their confidence and motivation. We also found that nurs-ing students' confidence and motivation when using SL have significantly con-tributed to their self-regulated learning. Recommendations for Practitioners Findings from this study can help educational decision makers to consider the use of seamless learning environments, like the SL, to help students solve prob-lems and generate alternative responses to their issues.