Interactive videodisc instruction with undergraduate nursing students using cooperative learning strategies

This study was conducted to explore the use of interactive videodisc instruction (IVDI) with cooperative learning strategies. Baccalaureate students in their junior year were assigned to one of three types of groups based on prenursing grade point average: homogeneous average achievement, homogeneous high achievement, and heterogeneous mixed achievement students. Groups of three to five students viewed a lesson related to auscultation of heart sounds using IVDI and were videotaped throughout the lesson. There were no significant differences among the groups in their interaction frequencies, cooperativeness, or achievement on the group posttest completed immediately after viewing the lesson. Homogeneous high achievement students scored significantly higher than the other two groups on the individual posttests given 2 weeks after viewing the lesson. However, all three groups had very low scores. Several themes emerged related to management of the lesson. A majority of the students without previous IVDI experience had difficulty accessing and proceeding through the lesson: fill-in-the-blank questions posed by the lesson often were frustrating to the students, students in groups had difficulty reading the touch screen monitor, a large number of students attempted to locate the cardiac valves on themselves or other group members, and male students tended to distance themselves from each other. In this study, students needed more orientation to the computer equipment and to cooperative learning strategies. When using IVDI with inexperienced students, faculty should be certain that technical assistance is available throughout the lesson.