May 4, 2012 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM
Rachel Ellaway Ph.D., Northern Ontario School of Medicine
David Topps, MD, University of Calgary
Integrating different technology resources for education remains a significant challenge, not least because of the heterogeneity and fast evolving nature of the many different technologies involved. The return on investment for technologies such as simulators has been limited by the limitations to using them in concert with each other. Although the IEEE standard for Distributed Interactive Simulation provides a model for simulation integration it is complex to implement and paradigmatically limited. The HSVO Project, in developing a web-based platform for integrating and controlling multiple heterogeneous simulators, has developed a simple data model for integration both in terms of what simulators can do and in terms of its implementation. The HSVO Simulator Environment Control Specification or SECS, was based on five kinds of simulator (device) behavior: the device's capabilities, initializing the device, changing the status of the device, changing the state of the device and reporting the device's current state. What it does provide is a tested and functional yet very simple way to connect and integrate multiple simulators. The SECS framework has so far been tested with mannequins, virtual patients and simple algorithmic desktop simulators in a range of live education scenarios across multiple sites. While preliminary work has previously been presented at MedBiquitous this presentation will demonstrate the completed specification and the ways in which it can be used.
