It is amazing how much knowledge, skills and attitudes a medical student must internalize (memorize, understand, apply and practice) before he or she can graduate, and making that learning journey a bit more engaging and exciting would surely not hurt. Personally, I would probably need brain shock therapy before even grasping the basics of Anatomy during the first semester. The language used for anatomy is way too complex for my impatient and simplifying brain to learn.

Interestingly, a pro-active IMU student (Ibnu Haniffa) shared an awesome Anatomy Arcade Games site on IMU E-Learning Facebook page recently (22/01/2011), and that just sparked me to an unexplored galaxy of great anatomy games and resources. In other words, unless you are using some of the sites coming next, why not spice up your Anatomy learning activities (or reading list) with some of the sizzling resources shared right here:

• WebAnatomy
  A collection of study aids and games from University of Minnesota for entry-level anatomy and physiology students. For example, the Anatomy Bowl multiplayer games could be used to spark the class to life learning different aspects of anatomy in a competitive, but exciting manner.
  
  
• Anatomy Arcade Games (Ben Crossett)
  This mission was born of frustration with what he saw as a lack of truly engaging material in the area of anatomy and also a frustration as a teacher catching students wasting class time playing flash games every time they were in a computer lab. The catch phrase "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" sums up the decision he made; to investigate the potential of these "pesky" little games to invigorate the delivery of anatomical material to the teenage audience (Source). Use some of these awesome anatomy games in your class (collaborative fun!), or at least share these games with your students where relevant.
  
  
• Visible Body (3D Human Anatomy)
  Visible Body is a content and software development firm that produces award-winning interactive and visual content. Visible Body's clients include many of the world's top pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and educational publishing companies. The revolutionary Visible Body web application is a 3D human anatomy visualization and learning tool available by subscription.
  
  
• BBC Interactive Body
  A sizzling free 3D animated anatomy resource that even includes interactive games to explore the senses, organs, skeleton, muscles and the nervous system.
  
  
• Get Body Smart
  Visually learn about the human body through beautifully detailed and interactive Flash animations.
  
  
• The Virtual Sports Injury Clinic
  Covers interactive information on over 100 sports injuries.
  
  
• TeachPE
  Check out the anatomical section especially on bones, muscles, the heart, lungs and energy systems.
  
  
• Human Embryology Animations
  It explores General Embryology, Cardiovascular Embryology, Development of the Head and Neck, Gastrointestinal Embryology, Development of the Limbs, and Urinary and Reproductive Embryology. Amazing stuff!
  
  
• Think Anatomy
  Is the creation of Vanessa Ruiz, art director, medical illustrator, blogger, and all out anatomy fanatic. This great site links, categorizes and discusses the best anatomy resources on the Internet.
  
  
• Street Anatomy
  Covers the use of human anatomy in medicine, art, and design (Vanessa Ruiz again!).
  
  
• Ourselves & Our Bodies (Shambles)
  A growing collection of excellent anatomy resources worth visiting once a while to discover new anatomy learning gems.
  
  
• To be Discovered!
  If you have any other excellent (free) anatomy online resources that you want to share, please share them in the comments section, and it will be added (if appropriate). Thanks :)
  
  

Ibnu Haniffa, thank you for being a pro-active students sharing your learning discoveries, and hopefully more students (lecturers and learners) will participate in sharing their learning discoveries on IMU E-Learning Facebook (or here!).

Finally, now we should not have any excuses in making our anatomy classes (or courses) boring, because with physical anatomy tools (at the medical museum), and sizzling online resources above, we have tremendous opportunities and possibilities to engage and inspire the medical students' mind, body and soul like never before :)

Thanks Karl Kapp and Tony O’Driscoll for inviting me to participate in a Blog Book Tour to discuss their new book "Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration" and be part of a global discussion regarding learning in virtual worlds and 3D learning spaces (Facebook Group). How could I say no! Actually, I am kind of embarrassed, because I was even invited as one of the special guest, but then after looking at all the learning giants that have already shared their reviews and comments, I feel kind of: I am not worthy, but thanks!

So, why would anyone spoil a 3D virtual world with some serious learning? Have you heard of the term ‘Serious Games’? Only some nutty dude would come up with such a dreadful term for educational games. Back to 3D, I mean if you ask any sane dude, he would 'rightfully' (or wrongfully) argue that Second Life is dreadful and lame. No game-play, no fun! Just people walking around, flying a bit, teleporting, chatting, and then sitting down to watch some dude talk/sing/dance you to sleep.

What do teachers do besides sitting around tables and talk in Second Life. Your thinking, what (that is not what I want)?

When it comes to 3D learning, virtual worlds, and Second Life, I am simply a ______! I have tried it, and every time I have promised myself to build something there and explore its possibilities... Reality check! Never happened! My computer specs (graphic card) and network just spoils the fun (Second Life, is there a light version?). That is one of the reasons I liked Google Lively, but Google probably realized that it was too costly and no hope, so they pulled the plug (Google Goggles here I come!).

However, when you have amazing learning dudes like Karl and Tony around to inspire you with real ideas and stories on how to transform a lame 3D world into a 3D learning adventure, there is hope. I have to admit that I have showed Tony's video entitled “Virtual Social Worlds and the Future of Learning” (7 Sensibilities) in most of my presentations during the last couple of years.

So, what is so special about this ‘Learning in 3D’ book? Well, I suppose the previous bloggers on the tour have dissected it too many ways to mention here, so I am thinking...

I had the opportunity to read this book in 3 countries (Malaysia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) as I traveled, and between countries on flights using my IPhone. I read the chapters according to some funny fuzzy logic (1,9,2,4,3,5,7,8,6) without any special plan, and the whole learning experience was captivating and enriching. Alright, I would have preferred to read it on an ‘IPad’ with interactive teleports to Second life, but Apple is not ready to launch that learning device yet (and my wallet is not so sure either!).

It tells you what, why, when, where, how, and provides a whole chapter (6) exploring numerous real success stories in using virtual worlds or 3D learning spaces beyond sitting around tables. The chapters flow beautifully from possibilities and today’s learning needs, to providing an easy-to-understand implementation framework supported by real examples, and then gives us a glimpse of how the future learning world is unfolding or going to unfold (as the Japanese say ‘ Innovate or Die’).

Although, I read the book in a weird flow (fuzzy logic), it was easy to make sense of what I read, as the authors have used simple language and minimized the jargons (at least to me). As the authors say, “…this book can be summarized in ten simple words: Progress, Problems, Possibilities, Principles, Archetypes, Examples, Processes, Adoption, Rules and Future.”

My favorite chapters are 6, 5, and 4, which provide a ‘Blueprint’ to get one started with building 3D learning spaces that meet our learning objectives and needs. Especially useful, is the eleven 'Learning Archetypes' that form the so called basic building blocks for creating 3D learning experiences. The eleven learning archetypes include role play, scavenger hunt, guided tour, operational application and conceptual orienteering. In a 3D shell, these chapters (and book) provide an excellent framework to get one started.

The final three (3) chapters explore what lies ahead for 3D Learning, and you might wonder what that may be. Not revealing! Just get the book :)

Though, at times when reading the book, you feel as if 3D learning is the ultimate future of learning, but I am pretty convinced that the 2D and 1D and 0 D are still going to be needed as much as 3D in the future, so we should not get too carried away with the new immersive 3D bells and whistles, even though they could be used to facilitate the most amazing learning experiences.



FUTURE
If you ask me, I am looking beyond Second Life, and reflecting what a Third Life would look like. Well, you certainly won’t be using the mouse, keyboard or joystick like now. I would actually argue that it won’t really be immersive until these three navigation tools are immersed into the 3D or augmented learning world (or immersed into the physical world). Project Natal is a glimpse of what to expect in the near future. In short, you become the joystick.

Also, building our 3D learning spaces to fulfill our learning outcomes and needs will become increasingly easier to accomplish in the near future. There will be more templates and ready-made labs/devices to use-on-the-spot, without needing to invest in designers and programmers to make it happen. In other words, there will be purpose-built 3D Learning spaces for any knowledge or learning domain one could think of, ready to be used, requiring just a tiny learning curve to adopt or adapt. If they are already there (and kind of free!), please share them in the comments section (PLEASE!), especially anything to do with medical education.

The present and future learning possibilities are amazing, and Tony and Karl has provided us with tons of 3D learning juice, and a very useful framework to get us started. So, that is it! As my last 3 weeks have been super hectic (Learning adventure in Saudi Arabia), I didn’t have enough time to really sit down and reflect this book as much as it deserves, so I am certainly going to revisit it again and again…

I was thinking of continuing here, but my 3rd baby is Insha-Allah coming soon (in the next few days hopefully), and I am looking forward to focus more on the good old physical world in the coming months, spending hopefully more quality time with my family and kids. When the 3rd baby has settled down (say 6 months), I will hopefully take up more time to explore deeper into the immersive 3D learning world. Until then, the physical world is my main immersive 5D learning adventure :)

Let's end this post with Karl Kapp's inspiring Learning in 3D presentation: