Investigating the Components of the Sense of Place Concept in Medical Students’ Virtual Education Space: A Scoping Review Study

It is very important to create an effective virtual learning environment similar to the environment of a university classroom. Paying attention to the student's sense of place is required in this virtual learning space. Virtual learning environments have a significant effect on student's thinking, feelings, interaction, performance and participation. Considering the ambiguity of concept’s dimensions in medical education literature and the importance of familiarity with the concept, a scoping review study was conducted. This study aims to identify the components of the sense of place concept in medical students’ virtual education space.

A six- step scoping review methodology was followed to identify and report on literature that describes components of sense of place concept in virtual medical education: Identify the research question, Identify relevant studies, Select studies to be included, Chart the data, Collate, summarize and report results, and Consult with stakeholders. To find related studies, a search was made in Web of Science, ERIC, Google scholar and manual search in specialized journals of medical education from 2000 to 2022. Screening of studies was done during 2 stages and the final articles were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the studies.

In total, 31 articles related to the concept of sense of place in the virtual education of medical students were reviewed. The studies included 11 descriptive cross- sectional articles,6 educational intervention articles, 5 qualitative articles, 4 mixed- method articles, and 5 review articles. A review of the studies carried out in this field led to the identification of components of creating a sense of place in the medical education environment of medical students, which include: guided learning context, virtual learning context based on technology, cognitive presence teacher, contribution of students, socialization processes, learner characteristics, proper organization of medical curriculum and institutional factors.

By identifying the factors which influence creating of the sense of place in virtual education ,the designers of electronic learning environment, medical teachers and managers of medical education can help to involve more students in the learning process and contribute to their academic success by considering these factors during virtual teaching and designing virtual learning environments.