Nursing Student's Viewpoints toward Routine Instructional Tools

Instructional tools are among effective factors in learning. Learning about student's viewpoints towards these tools could help teachers in choosing the most appropriate one. This study was performed to investigate and compare student's views towards three routine instructional tools including PowerPoint, overhead, and whiteboard. In this descriptive study in the year 2007, 68 nursing students in Saveh Nursing School were investigated. The sampling was done by convenient sampling method and data were gathered using a 36 item questionnaire. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were verified using content validity and internal consistency of data, respectively. Data were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive (mean, standard deviation, and frequency) and inferential (paired t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient) statistics. The mean scores of positive responses (from 0 to 100) regarding PowerPoint, whiteboard and overhead were 53.65±28.8, 53.65±27.6, and 21.93±25.5, respectively. 57.9% of students preferred PowerPoint, 38.6% chose whiteboard as their most favorable tool, and 3.5% had the preference for overhead. A difference was observed between scores of PowerPoint and overhead (t = 7.26, p < 0.005) as well as scores of whiteboard and overhead (t = 8.16, p < 0.005). Since, there are variations in student's preferences for instructional tools, it is recommended that teachers use a combination of different instructional instruments in order to be more effective in promoting students’ motivation and satisfaction in the classroom.