Birmingham City University : Nigel Wynne

• Senior Academic in Learning and Teaching
• Faculty of Health
• Email: nigel.wynne@bcu.ac.uk
• Phone: 0121 331 7172

Nigel Wynne is Senior Academic in Learning and Teaching in the Faculty of Health. He joined the University as a Lecturer in 2000 and now manages a unit that both produces online simulations of practice and researches how these can be optimised to most effectively enhance preparation for work in real-world settings.

Nigel and his team are continually listening to and working with employers and other stakeholders towards dramatically enhancing the way that students on Health, Social Work and Teacher Training courses learn.

Virtual case creator

Supported by an innovative online simulation software platform known as the Virtual Case Creator (VCC), produced by the Faculty, his team have developed 26 simulations with a further six due for completion in the next 12 months.

The VCC provides learners with authentic representations of practice that facilitate the ability to manage information from multiple sources, to problem frame and problem solve, and to prioritise how decisions should be made in support of effective and efficient work while thinking critically about the consequences of these.

“The VCC presents an incredibly rich, yet highly accessible learning experience that aims to develop knowledge and skills that are directly applicable to real-world settings.  Using the innovative VCC students can, for example, develop their ability to manage virtual caseloads, assess patients with acute conditions and communicate with multi-agency teams.” 

The success of the programme has led to significant funding from the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority, local NHS Trusts, the Dutch Digital University Consortium and the Advantage West Midlands funded Interactive Digital Media project, as well as invitations to speak at conferences in the UK, USA and Australia. Supported by a team of 3D modellers, animators and illustrators, VCC has generated global interest in its application.

“It’s unusual for a University, let alone a single Faculty, to support this kind of skillset. The presence of such a team within Health reflects the dedication that the University has to ensuring high-quality preparation for employment and lifelong learning.”

The VCC was presented to the Skillset conference last year and this led to real interest in how it could be used in different industries to enhance learning and training.

The initiative is also supported by the Student Enhanced Learning Technologies in Health scheme. This scheme, which started in 2001, provides work placements within the Health Faculty for students from any University studying Art, Design, Multimedia, Programming and 3D modelling.

Here students come to work within a multidisciplinary team on applied projects. The Faculty benefits through the energy and insights of the students and the students benefit through the skills and additions to their portfolio that they develop.

“It gives them an authentic work experience in which they are embedded and was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2008 in recognition of his contribution to the development of learning.”

In addition to Health and Social Care courses within the University the simulation tool is being used by students at the Faculty of Education for teacher training scenarios, has been integrated within courses at the University of Middlesex’s School of Nursing and is supporting staff development at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust. 

“The VCC workstream emerged from awareness that teaching content to students in a classroom, however well done, was not the best way to promote knowledge and skills that can be used to enhance practice when in work settings. It’s just one of a wide range of initiatives within the Faculty that support more active, student focussed learning.”

Two of Nigel’s current projects have been commissioned by industry. One, funded by the Strategic Health Authority, is exploring how VCC simulations can enhance community health care learning, while the other, with Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, is using the VCC to provide a bespoke solution to learning and training needs related to working with vulnerable adults.

To cope with increased demand and requests for more sophisticated simulations, he and his team are continually enhancing the software. Having already developed a number of 3D prototypes, Nigel and his team are currently scoping a 3D-modelled, open source, Virtual Community in which the VCC simulations can be used by a broad range of stakeholders in support of inter-professional and inter-agency working and training. 

Perhaps one of the most exciting recent applications of VCC is its integration with other approaches to simulation focused training. Using an educational framework, he and his colleagues have called Constructively Aligned Multiple Modality Simulation (CAMMS), VCC scenarios are used to prepare students to engage in simulations supported by computerised human simulators based in the Faculty's simulation centre. Evidence suggests that combining modalities in this way enhances the fidelity that students attach to their simulation experience. This work contributed to a recent groundbreaking ruling by the Nursing and Midwifery Council that has paved the way for the increased use of simulation in nursing courses. 

“What we have developed is really exciting. We have developed an immersive, flexible and scalable approach that is changing the way people can learn.”