Methods: Student comprehension of content will be evaluated with a secure, proctored, nationally-normed exam designed to assess student understanding of research and critical thinking skill. End of the semester course evaluations will examine students’ perceptions of the student learning activities. Students will also be surveyed to explore their experience with audience response software and perceived engagement in the course.
Results: Preliminary results will be obtained December 2016 and will be discussed at the time of the presentation. Results will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of audience response software and cellular phone use in the classroom setting. Results will also examine student and faculty perceived engagement and comprehension of content. Results will also compare student that utilized audience response software with students that didn’t use audience response software comprehension of nursing research content.
Conclusion: Engaging the millennial generation in class is a challenge that faculty face daily. Faculty are constantly competing with students on cell phones, texting and social media. Instead of competing with cell phones use in class this project attempted to utilize cell phones and audience response software to engage students. Traditional undergraduate nursing students have difficulty grasping research concepts and tend to find research intimidating. To encourage student engagement in the course, audience response software was downloaded onto their cell phones and students were encouraged to bring them to class. In class activities included mid-lecture quizzes, case studies, student and classmate polling. The software also allowed students to question or seek clarification on content without embarrassment by sending questions directly to faculty with their cell phones.