title: Development and evaluation of web-based animated pedagogical agents for facilitating critical thinking in nursing.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Web-based animated pedagogical agents on critical thinking among nursing students. A pedagogical agent or virtual character provides a possible innovative tool for critical thinking through active engagement of students by asking questions and providing feedback about a series of nursing case studies. This mixed methods experimental study used a pretest, posttest design with a control group. ANCOVA demonstrated no significant difference between the groups on the Critical Thinking Process Test. Pre- and post-think-alouds were analyzed using a rating tool and rubric for the presence of eight cognitive processes, level of critical thinking, and for accuracy of nursing diagnosis, conclusions, and evaluation. Chi-square analyses for each group revealed a significant difference for improvement of the critical thinking level and correct conclusions from pre-think-aloud to post-think-aloud, but only the pedagogical agent group had a significant result for appropriate evaluations.
authors.affiliation: College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, California, USA. diane.morey@canyons.edu
authors.forename: Diane J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Morey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D004507:Education, Nursing, Associate / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods*; D016730:Program Development; D013850:Thinking; D014481:United States; D014584:User-Computer Interface