Developing educational computer-assisted simulations Exploring a new approach to researching learning in collaborative health care simulation contexts

iii Reprinted publications v Notable abbreviations vi I. A developing context 1 Health care education in development – simulations as bridges 3 Purpose and aims 6 Disposition 7 II. Conceptualizing learning in context 9 Zone of proximal development and Vygotsky 9 Learning in a Zone of Collaboration 12 From Zone of Collaboration to Ecology of Resources Models 16 EoR as a Framework for Research 19 Additional Concepts: Simulator, Simulation and ECAS 20 III. Analysis of collaborative health care ECAS context 23 Grounding the ECAS EoR analysis in prior research 23 Analyzing collaborative ECAS in HCE as an Ecology of Resources 52 IV. Methods for investigating learning in context 63 Content and disposition 63 Learning Radiology in Simulated Environments 63 Using project data to explore collaborative ECAS in HCE ecology... 75 V. Four publications on learning in collaborative health care ECAS 83 Publication I 83 Publication II 84 Publication III 85 Publication IV 87 Contributions to exploring the ecology of collaborative ECAS in HCE ecology 88 VI. Prospect, retrospect 91 The empirical contribution 91 The conceptual contribution 96 Prospects of future research and practice 98 References 101 Appendix A. Guide for observation coding (in Swedish) 113 Appendix B. Questionnaire for dentistry simulation participants (in Swedish) 117 Appendix C. Questionnaire for conventional dentistry training participants 129 Appendix D. Questionnaire for nursing simulation participants 131 Appendix E. Interview guide for dentistry participants (in Swedish) 133 Appendix F. Interview guide for nursing simulation participants (in Swedish) 137 Publication I-IV 141