“Second Life started out not so much for education, but it’s become a tool that education can use,” Schmitt said.

Spartan Health Island is designed to allow students to practice community nursing by walking around as avatars and entering homes, where they can speak to patients and their families.

Simulated patients and their families are controlled by faculty or staff members, she said.

Opportunities to practice nursing in the community by making home visits are not always available, Schmitt said.

Utilizing the program allows students a chance to participate in community nursing beyond reading case studies, she said.

“It’s not as static as a case study on a piece of paper,” Schmitt said. “We can actually turn that case around in very different ways for each student that comes in.”

Julie Loomis, a nursing junior, said although she has not yet used the program, she thinks it would be beneficial to students.

She said such a program could allow students to learn on their own time and fit learning into their packed schedules.

Technology is growing increasingly important to nursing education, Loomis said.

“Technology has been such a major thing,” she said. “We … practice on dummies and simulated patients too, and that has been as lifelike as possible. It’s making things easier and easier.”

Nursing senior Ashley Mirovsky said allowing students to practice community nursing with a program such as Second Life gets rid of potential anxiety in real-life settings. Mirovsky said she plans to take the course in her next semester.

“Students are more comfortable to go into the real setting having that (experience) because they kind of know what to expect instead of being put right out there,” Mirovsky said. “I think it definitely breaks the tension.

Schmitt said administrators are listening to feedback from students and would like to expand the program into other nursing courses.

The virtual experience can supplement a real-world experience, she said.

“Certainly, there’s nothing like the real thing, and actually where there is a real thing, the virtual practice — we think — would enhance that tremendously,” she said.