Crisis as a chance. A digital training of social competencies with simulated persons at the Medical Faculty of RWTH Aachen, due to the lack of attendance teaching in the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic.

Objective: The AIXTRA Competence Center for Training and Patient Safety at RWTH Aachen University has developed a concept to enable learning of communication skills with simulated persons (SP) digitally. Methodology: Existing SP cases in curricular teaching were checked for digital applicability and modified. Digital seminars with the methodology of simulated conversations with SP, for planned 690 students for the courses "history taking", 6th semester, conversations in psychiatry, 8th semester, and in the clinical competence course, 10th semester, were conducted via video conferencing software. The structure is similar to SP-seminars in classroom teaching with a case presentation, a doctor/patient dialogue and a feedback session. In the 6th and 10th semester, the seminars were evaluated anonymously by the students using an online questionnaire. SP were asked by e-mail for their assessment. The lecturers were asked about their experience with the digital seminars by means of qualitative interviews. Results: The survey of students with 92 completed questionnaires indicates a high level of acceptance. Digital teaching with SP was rated "very good" by 63% of the students and "good" by 37% as an overall mark for the course. The digital implementation is well practicable, the retention and accessibility of all learning goals is rated as given. Conclusion: Digital teaching with SP can be well realized with appropriate preparation. Specific aspects of digital implementation (e.g. role and data protection) must be taken into account. The differentiated evaluation of the surveys will bring further results and deductive questions.

Implementing Virtual Simulated Person Methodology to Support the Shift to Online Learning: Technical Report.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed how education is delivered worldwide. The resultant rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms, has extensively impacted universities and other higher education organizations around the world. One approach to support this change in education delivery is the use of virtual simulation approaches. Our team at SimXSpace has piloted a virtual workshop using Zoom, an online video-conferencing platform, and virtual simulated persons (SPs) to support communication and interpersonal skills among learners. The main objective of the pilot virtual workshop was to develop and implement the SP methodology remotely via the Zoom platform (Zoom Video Communications, San Jose, California) and to evaluate its effectiveness as an immersive environment for simulation. The virtual workshop involved four instructors who intend to implement virtual SPs within their courses, two workshop facilitators, and two SPs. The workshop was conducted synchronously using Zoom features. The workshop followed a predefined structure and was completed as planned. Outcomes suggest that remote simulation delivery using virtual SPs and delivered online via Zoom is feasible and provides an effective environment in which to conduct SP methodology to teach communication and interpersonal skills. The findings suggest that remote simulation and virtual SPs can support experiential education and provide an effective and engaging learning environment. The virtual workshop was successful and laid a foundation for future online training programs for the use of SP methodology. Moreover, it formed an effective outline for subsequent iterations of this virtual training workshop and prompted discussion of plans for future workshops with various programs across a pan-university context.