Enhancing Metacognition: Nursing Faculty's Perceived Usage of Interactive iBook Technologies

Faculty and students are utilizing technology to enhance knowledge building and application of nursing concepts.  As technology continues to enhance cognition, nursing faculty are responsible to embrace best practices in web technology to further develop the metacognition experience.  Faculty need to explore the value of enhanced textbooks and tools to promote student learning.  Researches have been published on metacognition and the use of technologies as a scaffold to increase cognition; however, little is known about the use of interactive iBooks in nursing.

This pilot study focused on understanding perceptions of usefulness, attitude, and preferences to predict nursing faculty acceptance of the iBook format.  Nursing faculty from a school of nursing (N=10) were invited to participate in the pilot study.  A pre-test was administered to determine perceptions of iBook usefulness.  The participants were then provided with an iBook, a nursing education textbook written with a support of the SEPCHE grant, to review the format and interactive technology included in the iBook.  A post-test was administered to examine if perceptions of usefulness had changed.  The Technology Accepted Model (TAM) was used in this study for its predictive ability in studies involving adoption of technologies.  Overall, favorable perceptions regarding the iBook increased and the faculty’s opinions about iBook usage competence also showed favorable increases after viewing the iBook.  Specifically post-test scores of their self-assessment were significant (p=0.000) after faculty members examined the iBook, indicating favorable perceptions about the iBook. 

This study identifies perceived attitudes of nursing faculty to using interactive iBook Technologies to enhance metacognition in nursing students.  The strength of this study is that it is one of the few attempts at understanding perceptions of usefulness, attitude, and preferences in an effort to predict faculty acceptance of the interactive iBook format.    Although the sample size was too small for generalizability, this pilot study could be replicated with a larger population.  An additional consideration is to include students enrolled in a program for Nurse Educator Role Development.