One Concept at a Time: Using VoiceThread to Engage Students in Learning Nursing Research

Heightening students’ excitement of Nursing Research has always been a challenge. Limited articles and studies (Phillips, 2014; Tsai, Cheng, Chang, & Liou, 2014; Strickland, Gray, & Hill, 2012) have attempted to introduce creative ways to motivate student learning in regards to this subject. However, most of these studies involve gaming as a means to learning, which may not be conducive to the non-traditional or adult learner. One innovative online method that has positively changed nursing research in an RN-BSN online program is the use of VoiceThread. VoiceThread is a video-chat technological tool, which helps establish a continual faculty presence in an online classroom environment. Students can hear and see faculty relay information online while responding back using video chat, all in an asynchronous matter. The literature supports the use of VoiceThread for enhancing educational learning on all educational levels and within multiple disciplines (Donnelly, Kverno, Belcher, Ledebur & Gerson, 2016; Chan, & Pallapu, 2012; Salas, 2012; Brunvand, & Byrd, 2011; ). By applying VoiceThread, a purchased online plugin that can be adapted through Blackboard, a research vocabulary review was created called ‘Concept of the Day’. This instructional method follows the simple principles of language learning- see the word, hear the word, and visualize its meaning (Mai, Ngoc, & Tuan, 2013). In addition to the usual way of teaching research, via Powerpoint lectures, videos, correlated assignments, etc., each morning students are presented with an e-mail that links them into a VoiceThread containing the research word of the day. Students can visualize a term, hear the pronunciation of term, and be given a quick 3-minute or less audio and visual description of the research concept to enhance comprehension of terminology. Not only does this engage the online student daily; but also, offers students the ability to ask direct questions immediately of the faculty regarding the concept, and within a reasonable amount of time, have instructor feedback. “Concept of the Day” also, provides students the ability to listen to research terminology on their own time, as well as return to learn to the term as many times as needed throughout the course. Overall students’ feedback was extremely positive with this teaching methodology. Summative evaluation shows that students have a better grasp of research concepts when compared to prior quarters/semesters using other methods of pedagogy. As for versatility, the implication of employing ‘concept of the day’ is not limited to teaching nursing research; nor is the format strictly adherent to using VoiceThread. Nurse educators can extend the ‘concept of the day’ to other online courses. In addition, if VoiceThread is not available, other formats of distribution such as Podcasts or simple PowerPoints can adapt the principles of ‘concept of the day’ to enhance the learning curve. As we move forward in the academic realm, online learning will be the mainstay of education. Incorporating creative strategies, such as 'concept of the day' and technologies such as VoiceThread, are needed to promote an active and engaging learning experience for our student.