Virtual Community Clinic Learning Environment
In-depth clinical experience at the student level? It's all possible in the Virtual Community Clinic Learning Environment (VCCLE),
a technology project of the ECU College of Nursing. The result of collaboration between the college's FNP graduate faculty and
the college's special projects technology team, the VCCLE is a computer based, distance education tool for training Family
Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and Adult Nursing Practice (ANP) graduate students. IT Specialist Karl Fazer and his team have created
prototypical virtual communities and clinics that are accessible to students and faculty through the internet – an advantage for
distance learning grad students. Virtual patients are placed into a community, family, and clinic context so that students will
acquire knowledge of the interpersonal dynamics and variables that influence patient behavior and the decisions people make about
their health. The cases illustrate culturally and ethnically diverse rural virtual patients and communities. The patients represent
a cross section of eastern North Carolina's population. Virtual FNPs run the clinics in the virtual communities. This modularized,
web-based curriculum promotes problem-based individualized learning and represents the educational trend towards advanced learning
technologies. Fazer's virtual clinic not only leverages technology to expand the college's FNP program and increase the emphasis on
culturally competent care, but also has caught the attention of at least one designer of educational video games. As part of its
Precision Marketing efforts, the Office of Engagement, Innovation and Economic Development hopes to that ECU's various computer and IT
experts as resources for developers of 'serious games.'
Office of Engagement, Innovation and Economic Development - Willis Building