A Comparison of the Effects of Two Learning Media on Learning, Knowledge Retention and Attitude

Abstract

The Problem. The purpose of this study was twofold: one, to determine if there was a difference in learning and knowledge retention of healthcare terminology between beginning nursing students in a diploma school of nursing who used computer assisted instruction (CAI) and those who used videotape; and two, to determine if there was a significant positive correlation between student attitude toward CAI or videotape and scores on the posttest. Procedure. Beginning nursing students were randomly assigned to either a group receiving CAI or to a group receiving videotape to learn healthcare terminology. Three weeks later, they took a posttest covering this content and completed an attitudinal survey about the learning medium which they used. Two months later, they responded to 20 questions on healthcare terminology found in a final examination. Findinqs. There were no significant differences found between the students receiving CAI or videotape in learning and knowledge retention. There was no significant correlation found between student attitude toward the learning medium used and scores received on the posttest in either group. Significant correlations between individual items on the attitudinal survey and scores on the final examination were found. Conclusions. CAI and videotape are both appropriate adjuncts for nursing faculty to use since students in both the CAI and the videotape groups adequately learned the content on healthcare terminology and retained the content at a two month time period. Recommendations. Recommendations for future research include replication of the study using different content or a larger sample and an investiqation measuring knowledge retention after an extended period of time.