Virtual environments for enriching student learning

Higher Education faces a revolutionary opportunity for change created by the confluence of pressures from economic and societal changes along with opportunities for new modes of education offered by the advancement and widespread availability of Information and Communication Technology. Advances in learning technologies are creating opportunities to improve education in 21st century competencies such as critical thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration, and systems thinking, as well as to more effectively assess these competencies. But in order to realize these benefits we need to move beyond models of content "delivery" and think afresh about the characteristics of stimulating and engaging learning environments. I examine ways in which technologies such as intelligent tutoring systems, and simulation environments, can help to address some of the pedagogical challenges we face as educators. I illustrate with case studies from the work of my research group in the area of intelligent clinical training systems.