Promoting Critical Thinking and Digital Literacy in Nursing Students Through AI-Powered Podcasting: A Mixed-Methods...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Educational Technology
• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Background:

• Generation Z nursing students require enhanced critical thinking and digital literacy.
• Maternal-newborn care necessitates strong evidence-based practice skills.
• Traditional nursing education struggles to meet these evolving needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of an AI-assisted podcasting intervention on nursing students' critical thinking.
• To evaluate the effect of this intervention on digital literacy.
• To explore student experiences with AI tools in podcast creation.

Main Methods:

• Convergent mixed-methods design with 48 third-year nursing students.
• Students utilized AI tools (Sci Space, Notebook LM) for podcast creation.
• Quantitative data analyzed with paired t-tests; qualitative data from focus groups underwent thematic analysis.

Main Results:

• Significant increase in critical thinking scores (89.71 to 117.29, p < 0.001).
• Significant improvement in digital literacy scores (37.98 to 46.94, p < 0.001).
• Qualitative themes included: anxiety to empowerment, AI as a scaffold, tool utility, and clinical application.

Conclusions:

• AI-assisted podcasting shows potential for enhancing critical thinking and digital literacy in nursing students.
• The intervention fostered a sense of empowerment and highlighted practical AI applications.
• Further research is needed due to the pre-post design and single-institution sample.