VR-TALkS: Virtual Reality communication Tool for Application and evALuation with Key stakeholders and students

To create an interactive and innovative VR environment for collaborative learning and knowledge sharing across partner institutions. To increase learner motivation and engagement through immersive...

To create an interactive and innovative VR environment for collaborative learning and knowledge sharing across partner institutions. To increase learner motivation and engagement through immersive scenarios with digital avatars that enable safe, repeatable practice and timely feedback. To develop the digital competences of students, educators, and clinical trainers through hands-on use of VR and training-of-trainers activities. To make communication training more inclusive and accessible by removing geographic and scheduling barriers and enabling remote participation. To co-develop and agree methodological tools, best-practice guidance, and evaluation procedures across partner universities, together with the EAPC and 3dsense, to support the development, implementation, and assessment of VR-based communication training. To pilot and rigorously evaluate the VR application across all participating universities using mixed methods (feasibility, usability, learner and teacher satisfaction) and to identify barriers and enablers for routine use. To disseminate open, practical resources (scenarios, guides, website content, webinars/publications) and to plan for sustainability and curricular integration beyond the project period.

We set up cross-partner project management and the VR infrastructure (hardware, software, security, user access), and concluded partnership agreements. We jointly mapped existing communication-teaching modules and agreed methods and evaluation tools. With 3dsense, we co-created two VR scenarios of difficult patient–clinician conversations one focused on practicing NURSE techniques and the other on practicing SPIKES protocol, developed digital avatars, and built feedback functions. We pre-tested a rapid web/text prototype, iterated scripts, translated materials (English, German, Dutch, Portuguese, and Czech), and prepared guidance for teachers and students. We ran thematic workshops and meetings in VR, trained facilitators, and engaged students and teachers from all universities. We collected structured feedback on usability, feasibility, and learning value, and refined content accordingly. We initiated dissemination (website, social media, conference presentation and blog via EAPC) and stakeholder outreach. Quality assurance and ethics were addressed through expert review, preparing piloting and mixed-methods evaluation.

VR-TALKS delivered a functional VR environment with responsive digital avatars built using motion capture and prepared for classroom piloting. Two communication-tree scenarios simulating difficult patient–clinician conversations were created and translated into English, German, Dutch, Portuguese, and Czech. One is focused on practicing NURSE techniques and the other is for practicing SPIKES protocol. We pre-tested the scenarios via a custom web tool, collected logs, and used the feedback to refine content. WP2 produced methodological outputs that guided development and piloting: mapped communication courses and target modules, lists of barriers/enablers, and agreed evaluation tools. Dissemination outputs include the project website and social media, plus a presentation at the EAPC Congress and an EAPC blog post. Early educational effects show strong learner engagement with realistic scenarios, supporting the feasibility/usability evaluation of the VR scenarios with 320 medical and nursing students and educators within WP4.