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Emergence of virtual learning environments (also referred to as simulated environments) in medical education has enabled educators to bring ‘real experiences’ to the classroom environment. The aim of this technology is to allow students to develop their clinical skills in a safe structured environment.  Numerous educational studies demonstrate its role in effectively teaching procedural competence and clinical skills to learners in various medical specialities; however, only recently have we seen its application to radiation oncology education emerge.

Simulated teaching has become more prominent in radiation therapy (RT) curricula due to the launch of ‘Virtual Environment for Radiotherapy Training’ VERTTM in 2007. This virtual RT environment features a bunker with a linear accelerator and facilitates hands on learning in a simulated clinical environment. Learning in a simulated environment enables active student participation where students can make mistakes and learn from them with no risk to patients. Such safe environments support two-way communication between the student and the educator, allowing for individualised feedback and possibly enhanced retention of clinical skills for the student.  Learning in a safe engaging environment promotes active learning and therefore deep learning and helps students to transition from being passive learners in second level education to active learners in universities.  Benefits of simulated education is not just limited to teaching procedural skills, it can also be used to support assessment, teaching, and learning in communication, planning concepts, imaging, inter-professional interactions and patient management case-based scenarios.

Despite the many benefits to simulation, there are some challenges and barriers to its implementation into radiation oncology curricula. One consideration is the possible increase in cost compared to traditional teaching methods. Time is also a perceived barrier due to the additional time needed to develop and teach on simulated programmes. However, these barriers could possibly be overcome by sharing resources between institutions.Further concerns surrounding simulated education is the false confidence and sense of security students may have in their skills due to lack of variation and complexity in the patient cases provided in the clinical environment. Simulated environments also lack the realism of the clinical environment in the senior years when students are expected to work under time pressures in stressful environments.

Despite these concerns, VERTTM is an effective educational tool that can support and enhance students clinical learning. It should be integrated into the design of radiation oncology curricula  due the positive benefits for all key stakeholders (student, educators, and patients). While beneficial, VERTTM does not exclude the need for students to work in clinical environments. The future of radiation oncology education is exciting as educators have the opportunity to integrate emerging multimedia software to support and educate our future practitioner and medics.