Faculty Involved: Ellen R. Hoist (leader), Alnissa Shabazz, Regina C. Pannettieri, Kenya Harris, and Paula Green

Project Goals:

• This project was designed to improve two key educational outcomes in the Nursing and allied Health Sciences program: 1) effective use of therapeutic communication and 2) critical thinking skills in clinical settings.
• To use Voice Thread to engage students in structured asynchronous dialogue related to videos, images, documents or presentations created for specific health-related clinical situations (modeling a similar approach at UNC-Chapel Hill).
• Provide faculty development for the successful implementation, integration and proper use of Voice Thread.
• Provide the technology infrastructure for using Voice Thread (cameras, microphones, speakers, webcams, etc.)
• Rennovate the existing clinical observation room to allow for monitoring and recording of clinical simulations (see before and after 3D models below).

Current Activities:

• Spring/Summer 2010: Production Team creation of Voice Thread clinical scenarios.
• Summer 2010: Installation of Whisper Booth recording studio in the clinical observation room.
• Fall 2010: Faculty development in the use of Voice Thread tool; continued creation of scenarios. Development of one Whisper Booth exercise.
• Spring 2011: Implementation of the project in the freshman and sophomore classes.
• Evaluation and assessment based on faculty usage and student experience, pre/post testing and direct clinical observation.