Effectiveness of computer-assisted-instruction (CAI) in dietetic education

Martha Anne Raidl, Purdue University

Abstract

Computers have been shown to be very effective at teaching students lower-level thinking skills and moderately effective at teaching students higher-level thinking skills. The goal of education is to promote thinking by having students develop their higher-level thinking skills. In dietetic education, this goal can be achieved by following specific Standards Of Education (SOE). The SOE has two components: (1) knowledge-based requirements and (2) performance-based requirements. An assessment of these two SOE components indicates students achieve these requirements since the passage rate for the ADA exam is approximately 85%. However, researchers have found students experience difficulty developing clinical reasoning skills (i.e. collecting and interpreting appropriate information and making decisions). The goal of this research project was to determine the effectiveness of a CAI tutorial program in teaching students these clinical reasoning skills. Two other CAI programs were developed: (1) a drill-and-practice program which controlled for time on task, and (2) a simulation program which tested the effectiveness of the tutorial program. Subjects included diet therapy students enrolled in either a Coordinated Program in Dietetics (CPD) or Didactic Program (DP). Thirty schools and 413 students participated in this study over a two semester period. Students who completed the tutorial program scored 10% higher on the simulation test while students who completed the drill-and-practice program scored 2.7% higher on the simulation test compared to the students who had no computer intervention. The high reliability (0.93) and small Standard Error of Measurement (2.7) of the simulation scores indicated there was little variability in these students' test scores. The simulation program was used to test lower and higher-level clinical reasoning skills introduced in the tutorial program. The tutorial program enhanced mastery of all lower-level clinical reasoning skills related to data collection (by 20.3 to 31.7%) and higher-level decision making skills (by 28.3%). These results indicate that the tutorial program is a very effective teaching tool and is better than a drill-and-practice program or no CAI. Student input on the tutorial and drill-and-practice programs indicated that students enjoyed both programs and found the programs to be useful as a teaching supplement.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Evers, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Nutrition|Health education

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