This study investigated the analysis phase of the educational problem in the research and development process for a virtual environment for teaching medicine, guided by the design-based research methodology. A multidisciplinary team composed of educational technology and healthcare researchers discussed the problem of technicist training and the need to emphasize patients' subjective experiences of illness and treatment as a way of including ethical values in the training. Based on content analysis of the transcripts of the team meetings, the factors that influenced the negotiation process for defining the educational problem, the aims of the virtual environment and the guiding theory for its development were discussed. It was concluded that in analyzing complex problems such as healthcare, it is essential to take into account epistemological beliefs (about healthcare education, healthcare, and educational technology) and teachers' knowledge (from experiences and academic disciplines).
Design-based research; Virtual learning environment; Medical training; Epistemological beliefs; Teachers' knowledge