<p> The purpose of this study was to determine if students learn clinical judgment as effectively using computer-based simulations as when using high-fidelity mannequin simulations. There was a single research questions for this study: What is the difference in clinical judgment between participants completing high-fidelity human simulator mannequin simulation or computer-based simulation? A convenience sample of 50 associate degree nursing students in the last medical-surgical nursing course of their program were invited to participate in this study. Analysis of the demographic data confirmed the similarity of the two groups in terms of the potentially important confounding variables such as age, sex, education and prior healthcare experience. The score for each participant from the computer-based simulation (Simulation 2) and the percent of interventions completed in the high-fidelity human simulator simulation (Simulation 3) by each participant was added together to obtain an aggregate clinical judgment score for participants in Group C and Group M. Two-tailed <i> t</i> test for independent means was used to determine if a significant difference existed between the aggregate clinical judgment score for Group C and the aggregate clinical judgment score for Group M. Results from the test indicated that there was no difference between groups at the 95% confidence interval. The similarity of the clinical judgment scores of the computer-based simulation group to the scores of the high-fidelity mannequin simulation group indicates similar utility of the two instructional methods. The use of carefully planned and well-designed computer-based simulations can allow students to practice skills and develop confidence, self-efficacy and clinical judgment independently, freeing faculty for other instructional tasks.</p>

<p> This study utilized a multi-case, bounded case, single-site case study research design to examine how well instructional designers perceive themselves able to practice ID in health care industries. Questions central to this study focused on how instructional designers perceive their preparation to practice, usefulness of professional development organizations or affiliations in which they participated while practicing ID, both academic and non-academic curricula, and utilization of ID practices when designing and developing ID projects in health care environments. </p><p> The site selected for this study was a teaching hospital in Southeast Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan. Sampling size was limited to five instructional designers who had been working in the health care environment. Using a case study approach, convenient sampling was utilized to obtain detailed information about the experiences of instructional designers in the health care sector. Upon completion of interviews, participants had the opportunity to show completed work projects and were provided an opportunity to reflect on ID practice via journal entries over a two week time period. The constant comparative method was utilized for data analysis whereby a within-case analysis was conducted followed by a cross case analysis. Findings of this research showed that participants felt well prepared to practice ID in their respective health care environment and offered a variety of ways in which an instructional designer can explore the field of health care, how academic program administrators can collaborate with health care organizations to provide ID opportunities for students, and ways in which health care administrators can explore additional learning opportunities for their ID employees.</p>

<p> Thoughts drift in everyday life and in the classroom. The goal of this study was to investigate how often students reported off-task thinking while watching online lectures. These findings were related to working memory capacity, topic interest, and achievement goal orientations. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate how all of these factors were related and predicted performance in the course. </p><p> In the presented findings, 126 participants completed three complex span tasks, answered a 2x2 goal orientation questionnaire, responded to eight mind-wandering probes while watching two online lectures, and rated interest in the lecture topics. </p><p> In the reported models, higher levels of mind wandering predicted lower levels of academic performance. Lower levels of working memory capacity predicted higher levels of mind wandering and lower levels of academic performance. Higher levels of topic interest predicted lower levels of mind wandering. Higher levels of mastery approach orientations (those who learn to master content) predicted higher levels of task-related interference. A novel mind wandering probe, <i>thinking about or using another technology, </i> accounted for 29% of off-task thinking. Implications of these findings and considerations for future research are discussed.</p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative experimental study was to test the impact of three learning interventions on student learning and satisfaction when the interventions were embedded in the instructional design of case-based, Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) modules for learning liver pathology in an in-class, self-study, laboratory exercise during a Year-2 medical school Pathology course. The hypothesis was that inclusion of the learning interventions would enhance student satisfaction in using the CAI and improve subsequent CAI-directed exam performance. Three learning interventions were studied, including the use of microscopic virtual slides instead of only static images, the use of interactive image annotations instead of only still annotations, and the use of guiding questions before presenting new information. Students were randomly assigned to with one of eight CAI learning modules configured to control for each of the three learning interventions. Effectiveness of the CAI for student learning was assessed by student performance on questions included in subsequent CAI-directed exams in a pretest and on posttests immediately after the lab exercise, at two weeks and two months. Student satisfaction and perceived learning was assessed by a student survey. </p><p> Results showed that the learning interventions did not improve subsequent student exam performance, although satisfaction and perceived learning with use of the CAI learning modules was enhanced. Student class rank was evaluated to determine if the learning interventions might have a differential effect based on class rank, but there were no significant differences. Class rank at the time of the lab exercise was itself the strongest predictor of exam performance. </p><p> The findings suggest that the addition of virtual slides, interactive annotations and guiding questions as learning interventions in self-study, case-based CAI for learning liver pathology in a medical class room setting are not likely to increase performance on subsequent MCQ-based exams, but student satisfaction with use of the CAI can be enhanced, which could provide to be an incentive for students to use similar CAI learning modules for future self-directed learning.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Education, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 19, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4643. Adviser: David J. Flinders.

Abstract not available.