Dress Rehearsals: Using Video Technology to Educate Students, Patients, and Legislators

Background

Practice is the key to a smooth performance.  Some of the most engaging educational activities are like performance art (Lahey, 2016).  Videos engage the student audience in a way text cannot.  Students who are learning to be educators benefit by using and practicing experiential activities, like on-line video presentation, twofold (Chollet, Wortein, Morency, Shapiro, Scherer, 2015).  One, they are practicing techniques they will be using in their professional practice as educators and two, they are learning the content they are currently immersed in. 

Nurse educator (NE) students will serve in roles that will require them to be both educators and leaders.  As both, they will need to create engaging educational materials and influence the people and systems that impact their practice.  Nurse educator students in two courses with different subject matter, informatics and health policy, were asked to video record and upload a presentation on an informatics or legislative topic depending on the course they were enrolled in.  The intended audiences of the presentations were nursing students and legislators respectively.

Since practice is needed to create a smooth delivery, the technology used to practice has to be adopted.  Davis (1989) proposed a model showing the relationship between technology adoption and usability and ease of use.  In other words, if the technology is usable, the likelihood of adoption increases.  Davis’ Technology Adoption Model (TAM), has been used in numerous research studies assessing ease of use and usability (Gagnon, et al. 2012, Oliveira & Martins 2011).

The purpose of this educational activity was to provide an applied learning opportunity for nurse educator students that would increase student engagement through activity, reflection, and peer review.  The activity would also provide practice with technology that can be later used by the student in their professional educational role (Hilton, 2013; Kebritchi, Lipschuetz, & Santiague, 2017).  And because speaking to a legislator in an effort to advocate for their profession can be anxiety provoking, practicing this activity can reduce the level of anxiety related to it (Tilfors et al., 2008).  Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it can make it better!

Problem

The online Master of Science Nurse Educator concentration prepares nursing professionals who use educational theory in health care teaching situations.  The program is designed to produce a professional with teaching and learning skills in order to prepare learners to work in future health care delivery systems.  According to the American Association of Colleges in Nursing (AACN) Master’s Essentials, master’s education “equips nurses with valuable knowledge and skills to lead change, promote health, and elevate care in various roles and settings” (AACN, 2011, p 3).  With the explosion of technology and almost instant communication, nurse educators need advanced skills to both learn to be educators and to educate their students.  In addition, they are expected to disseminate information in an effective way in their professional practice to other health professionals and the public. 

In our program, nurse educator students are required to take a course in informatics and a course in health policy.  While both courses are exclusively for nurse educator students, neither course is focused on teaching pedagogies.  All of the assessments in these courses were text-based; however, nurse educators need to use other methods to communicate information in order to influence others, including their students, patients and legislators. 

The overall purpose of this project was to give students applied learning activities to help them develop public speaking skills via video presentations.  These activities will help promote the development of nurse educator oral communication skills and use of current technology such as video presentations.  In addition, students will be able to practice reflection and peer review to provide feedback to fellow students.

Approach

For this study, one assignment in each course was replaced with a video presentation on a course related topic of choice.  Assignment activities included:

1. Completing an intention reflection
2. Selecting a video platform they could use in their professional practice
3. Creating and posting a video on the assigned topic
4. Completing a peer review of their assigned peer following a predefined rubric
5. Completing a critical reflection describing the experience

Students were asked to begin the assignment with an intention reflection.  Intention reflection questions included:

1. List three (3) ways the video assignment experience could be valuable to your practice as a nurse educator.
2. Describe your experience (if any) using video technology to present information in your practice.
3. List and describe any perceive challenges with this assignment.

Once the students completed the video assignment and peer review, they were asked to complete a usability assessment and critical reflection.  The usability assessment was based on Davis’ Technology Adoption Model (Davis, 1989).  Critical reflection questions included:

1. List three (3) ways the video assignment experience could be valuable to your practice as a nurse educator.
2. Describe how this video technology could change the way you present information in your practice.
3. Describe any challenges you may have had with the assignment.
4. Describe what (if anything) would you suggest we change in this assignment going forward.

Once completed we compiled the students’ written comments and usability results.  We made minor modifications to the activities and permanently embedded these assignments into these courses. 

Outcomes

The outcomes of this applied learning activity involved developing effective communication skills, giving and receiving feedback for improvement of oral communication skills, and the use of current video technology.  Students were graded by the professor on effective communication skills using a rubric that was shared prior to the activity.  Each student peer evaluated another using the same rubric.  Students reflected on the experience and completed a usability survey to evaluate the use of technology. 

Based on the reflections, students valued this applied learning experience and felt that their communication skills grew because of it, also recognizing they could reach larger audiences by using an on-line video platform.  They valued professor and peer feedback for improvement. They stated that as a result of the assignment, they would be less anxious presenting the material and using the technology.  Usability of the technology scored high despite trepidation written in the intention reflection.  Students also communicated aspects of the activity that were difficult for them such as instructions that were not clear, uploading the video correctly, and repeat retakes of the video. 

Conclusions

Students felt that this experience was valuable.  They recognized the need to be exposed to and practice newer educational techniques like on-line video presentation.  They found the technology to be useable and useful.  Course instructions were modified based on student feedback and more instruction on peer review was added.  This applied learning activity will continue in future sections of these courses.

This applied learning experience provided practice in areas that are important to the success of the nurse educator.  Oral communication effectiveness, giving and receiving peer feedback, and using current on-line video technology involve skills that are invaluable to all educators.