AN EXPLORATION OF MULTIMEDIA USE IN AN ONLINE RN-BSN PROGRAM Gina Anderson ...

263 Pages·2015·1.79 MB·English

AN EXPLORATION OF MULTIMEDIA USE IN AN ONLINE RN-BSN PROGRAM

Gina Anderson

Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree
Doctor of Education
in the Instructional Systems Technology Department of the School of Education
Indiana University
May 2015
An Exploration of Multimedia Use in an Online RN-BSN Program

Accepted by the School of Education Faculty, Indiana University,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Education.

Dr. Thomas Brush, Ph.D.

Dr. Curtis J. Bonk, Ph.D.
Doctoral
Committee
Dr. Joshua Danish, Ph.D.

Date of Oral Exam: May 4, 2015

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Copyright © 2015
Gina Lynn Anderson
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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To Scott, Jeanne, Jeff, and Megan (and in loving memory of Fred)

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Acknowledgements
My journey to get to this point has not been the most traditional of paths. Those that are
close to me know what I have been through to reach my goal of finishing what I started over a
decade ago in the fall of 2004. It would not have happened without the support of the many
people who I would like to recognize.
First, to my major advisor, Dr. Thomas Brush, for his unconditional support throughout
my journey. Dr. Brush was a strong advocate and mentor for me which is essential when you do
this away from campus. He provided his critical comments which has made me a better writer
and scholar. I will always have the deepest gratitude for him signing up to work with me a
second time through this process! Your presence allowed me to enjoy studying from afar. Thank
you for never giving up on me! I will always be grateful.
Second, to another member of my dissertation committee Dr. Curtis Bonk, who once
reminded me that we had met several times in life; the first time we met you showed me the
passion you had for online learning, the second time we met it reminded me why I wanted to be a
leader in the field, the third time we met you renewed my interest to finish what I started (and we
both wished we would not have been in Ohio during a snow storm!), and the fourth time we met
you provided the encouragement I needed (and the card is still in my purse today). May we
continue to meet many more times in our lives!
Third, to another member of my dissertation committee Dr. Joshua Danish, who provided
me with an example of online teaching excellence and gave me critical feedback that moved my
thinking and dissertation forward. Thank for your attention and involvement in this process!
Next, I would like to thank everyone at Indiana University in the School of Education
who had direct or indirect involvement in getting this doctoral program approved. I know how
time and labor intensive it is to get a new program through at a university. Know that the
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investment was well worth it. I would like to also thank Dr. Daniel Hickey. I am appreciative
that you helped me navigate through all the online paperwork for my minor. Professor Boling,
your words of giving up and not finishing always stayed in the back of my mind and made me
determine to come back and finish what I started. Also, thank you to Dr. Ray Haynes for being
supportive and celebrating my work. You are an inspiring role model for me.
I would also like to thank the university administrators for allowing me the opportunity to
study the RN-BSN online program, the staff who sent emails on my behalf to the students and
sent IRB materials back and forth between states, and to the instructors and students who showed
interest and volunteered to participate. Without all of your involvement, this study would not
have happened.
Thanks to my colleague, Mrs. Kate Tredway whose love of nursing education started us
on this amazing inquiry. You are a dear colleague with whom I hold the upmost respect. I look
forward to continuing to explore ways with you to improve online nursing education.
Finally, to my brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and Megan for their never ending
understanding and support. To my mom for her love and encouragement and for always
supporting and believing in me no matter what decisions I made. To my late grandfather, whose
entrepreneurial spirit guides my drive. And to Scott, my husband, colleague, and best friend, for
the endless hours of love and support you provided to me. For this, I was able to stay focused
toward my goal. I would not be here today without you.
most traditional of paths. Those that are close to me know what I have been through to
reach my goal of finishing what I started over

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Gina Anderson

An Exploration of Multimedia Use in an Online RN-BSN Program

The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to determine what multimedia
non-traditional RN-BSN nursing students’ used in the online classroom and in what ways they
used it within the context of one problem-based and one project-based online course.
Specifically, there was an interest in determining what aspects of multimedia were most useful to
the nursing students’ learning by examining the differences across these instructional designs
from a more sociocultural perspective. As part of this examination, the researcher compared
views of authenticity as articulated by the designer, original subject matter expert (SME),
instructors, and students. The goal was to use this data to formulate specific guidelines to inform
the types of multimedia for future production.
The participants were current online RN-BSN nursing students within a large Midwestern
university and instructors who had taught at least one of the courses under study. To achieve the
goal of this study, multiple data were gathered from three data types: (1) artifacts, (2)
observational data, and (3) inquiry data. There were two parts to the study: artifact collection and
interviews.
A total of 460 student artifacts were collected. Artifacts were analyzed using thematic
analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006; Shank, 2002) until saturation was reached from one problem-
based learning course and one project-based learning course with enrollments of 16 and 20
respectively. In addition, data were collected from six instructors and five students.
Results of this study revealed that instructors’ perspectives differed not only with regard
to student uses of multimedia across the two different pedagogical designs, but also with regard
to the benefits and constraints to student’s learning. Results suggested that students used
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multimedia in varied ways within the different designs to support their learning. Students and
instructors reported the most useful attribute of multimedia was how it helped establish relevance
to the real world. This study showed that the way students, instructors, and the designer defined
real world or authenticity may be influenced by external factors that need to be taken into
consideration. This has implications for the decades of research published on multimedia
guidelines. Multimedia guidelines for the program under study are provided.

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Table of Contents

List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... xi 
List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 
Introduction ..........................................................................................................1 
Problem Statement ...............................................................................................3 
Description of Study ............................................................................................6 
Significance of Study ...........................................................................................8 
Definition of Terms..............................................................................................9 
Organization of Remaining Chapters ...................................................................11

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 12 
Introduction ..........................................................................................................12 
Overview of Multimedia Learning ......................................................................12 
Multimedia Guidelines .........................................................................................14 
Limitations of Guidelines for this Study ..............................................................18 
Lack of Authenticity ............................................................................................19 
Sociocultural Perspectives on Learning ...............................................................22 
Overview of the Culture of Nursing Education ...................................................33 
Multimedia Use in Problem-based and
Project-Based Online Nursing Education ............................................................39 
Summary of Knowledge Gaps .............................................................................43 
Summary of Chapter ............................................................................................45

CHAPTER THREE: METHODS ..................................................................................... 46 
Research Design ...................................................................................................46 
History of the Program.........................................................................................48 
Description of the Program, Courses, and Activities ...........................................52 
The Participants ...................................................................................................62 
Data Sources ........................................................................................................63 
Procedures ............................................................................................................69 
Data Analysis .......................................................................................................76 
Establishing Trustworthiness in Action Research ...............................................92 
Summary of Chapter ............................................................................................98

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS ......................................................................................... 99 
Research Question 1 ............................................................................................104 
Summary ..............................................................................................................108 
Research Question 1a ...........................................................................................117 
Summary ..............................................................................................................118 
Research Question 1b ..........................................................................................127 
Summary ..............................................................................................................130 
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Research Question 2 ............................................................................................131 
Summary ..............................................................................................................136 
Research Question 2a ...........................................................................................137
Summary ..............................................................................................................144 
Research Question 2b ..........................................................................................146 
Summary ..............................................................................................................156

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .............................................. 159 
Examination of Findings ......................................................................................159 
Research Questions 1, 1a, 1b. ..............................................................................159 
Research Questions 2, 2a, 2b. ..............................................................................166 
Practical Implications...........................................................................................172 
Building connections through genuine multimedia. ...............................173
Creating multimedia of actual nurses for metacognition .......................175
Setting clear expectations for multimedia. .............................................176
Theoretical Implications ......................................................................................177 
Limitation of Study ..............................................................................................179 
Suggestions for Further Research ........................................................................181 
Conclusion ...........................................................................................................182 

REFERENCES ...................................................................................................184

Appendix-A NURS 242 Week 1 Individual Review and Reflect Questions .......219

Appendix-B NURS 242 Week 7 Individual Review and Reflect Questions .......220

Appendix-C NURS 385 Activity Directions .......................................................221 

Appendix-D IRB Approved Recruitment emails for students and instructors ....224 

Appendix-E IRB Approved Consent Forms for students and instructors ............226 

Appendix-F IRB Approved Verbal Script for students and instructors ...............232 

Appendix-G Interview Protocol for students and instructors ..............................234 

Appendix-H NURS 242 Multimedia Alignment ................................................238 

Appendix-I NURS 385 Multimedia Alignment ...................................................241 

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