Project RITE
Recipients
Handheld Technology and Cooperative Learning
launch blog |Tami Wyatt
Assistant Professor, College Of Nursing, UT KnoxvilleThe University of Tennessee College of Nursing aims to adopt innovative teaching strategies and technologies to promote the advancement of nursing students while preparing them for their future roles in a technology-rich and rapidly changing industry. Using mobile technology for learning, or m-learning, has been explored in various institutions. "Mobile learning allows teaching and learning to extend to spaces beyond the traditional classroom. Within the classroom, mobile learning gives instructors and learners increased flexibility and new opportunities for interaction." (Educause: ELI website, 2005). Cooperative learning, a form of collaborative learning, pairs more experienced or advanced learners with inexperienced novice learners (Johnson & Johnson, 2005). Both collaborative and cooperative learning methods require mechanisms to connect learners to one another -- whether learners are working in small, centrally located groups or in "virtual groups" that communicate from a distance.
Some medical and nursing schools have incorporated handheld devices into student learning through clinical experiences, yet few have measured its effects on learning. Most studies measure student satisfaction with the use of PDAs (Brock, Scott & Wick, 2003; Cimino & Bakken, 2005; DeGroote, & Doranski, 2004; Miller, et al., 2005; Scordo & Yeager, 2003). Further, none of the schools using mobile technology have documented its use to promote classroom learning or collaboration among learners and educators. Overall, nursing and medical programs use the PDA as a resource or reference tool for students. With over 1,000 applications specifically designed for healthcare, in addition to the simple search features on PDAs, one can access and retrieve information quickly and at the bedside without having to locate a missing desk copy of a medical reference manual. But PDAs are also powerful computers that can access the Internet in a wireless environment, retrieve data from servers, and even connect callers using peer-to-peer Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Because of these extended capabilities, PDAs can be powerful tools that promote learning in and beyond the classroom.
The purpose of this educational action research project is to explore ways m-learning can be used to enhance cooperative learning in clinical and classroom learning for nurse practitioner students. This pilot project will explore m-learning methods with nurse practitioner students at the University of Tennessee Knoxville during the spring semester of 2006. Based on the findings of this pilot project, selected m-learning methods and tools will be used during the fall semester of 2006 to collaborate with students and faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Shenandoah University (SU). These institutions were selected because of the clinical and educational expertise of the directors of the practitioner programs and the PI's long history of collaboration on handheld technology projects with the directors of the UAB and SU nurse practitioner programs.