Teaching in a virtual environment has been a natural progression of advancements in information and communication technologies. The current issues with virtual teaching models appear to be related with the effective simulation of course content, some teaching materials are easier to be visualised in a simulation than others. For example, nursing through the life span is a module which was introduced in the nursing syllabus at Wintec (Waikato Institute of Technology) in 2009.
The module explores the learnt experiences and the impact of ill health on a patient’s family and their development. The theoretical contents of the module make it difficult to teach in a virtual environment. However, using a unified health informatics system and advanced statistical and probability modelling, human behaviour can be explored and modelled. The results can then be
integrated with the available technology into an appropriate virtual classroom. In this paper, the
application of health informatics together with virtual classroom technology is conceptualised as an aid for teaching human behaviour.