Innovative strategies: Increased engagement and synthesis in online advanced practice nursing education

The struggle to maintain quality education in the online environment has brought about the redesign for the family nurse practitioner courses.

The family nurse practitioner program uses graduate Health Education Systems Incorporated examination as a quality indicator and program benchmark. A downward trend in Health Education Systems Incorporated examination scores stimulated a need for change. Two strategies were implemented to enhance engagement and improve synthesis of clinical information. Case-based learning and gamification involves the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems while the case-based discussions act as formative assessment tool, providing information on student's progress and development.

To assess the implementation of innovative strategies on the Health Education Systems Incorporated examination scores and to enhance students engagement and synthesis of clinical information.

Case presentations were created in the Learning Management System an online program, for every module. Interwoven throughout the module are various game elements. The game elements include voluntary participation with immediate feedback that can be both positive and negative and provides a social connection. The student has the freedom to fail and the freedom to choose without significant repercussions.

The results showed examination scores increased significantly. Using a one-way analysis of variance to compare Health Education Systems Incorporated examination scores between semester cohorts of students, followed by a post hoc pairwise comparison a statistically significant difference (p < .001) between previous semesters was identified.

Although there are many approaches for online learning, using case presentations can mirror different social and cultural situations to challenge the learner. Case-based discussion and gamification strategies are effective in engaging students in a challenging environment. Student responded positively to case-base presentation with game elements. Using this approach is designed to challenge and add value to the learning experience.