How Nearpod made Health Sciences courses more engaging for adult learners

Educator's challenge

Creating engaging Health Information Technology lessons for adult learners in in-person, asynchronous, and hybrid instruction learning environments.

What are effective resources or tools to motivate and excite adult learners about course content that is not normally perceived as “fun”? Kacey Bishop, Assistant Professor in the Health Information Technology (HIT) Program at Palm Beach State College (PBSC), was determined to find a solution that allows her to reach all of her students and ensures learner participation, while also maintaining positive course outcomes, as the program expands course modalities.

Receiving an Associate of Science (A.S.) degree upon graduating, students in PBSC’s HIT Program gain “technical expertise in management of health information [and the] knowledge and skills to perform job functions in medical records, medical coding, data analytics and other information-based areas in both the hospital and outpatient settings.” Due to the increasing popularity of Health Sciences degrees that lead to a wide array of career opportunities in the medical field, it is no surprise Bishop sees strong student diversity in her courses.

Emphasizing inclusivity, Bishop wanted a tool that accommodates the needs of her large non-traditional-aged student population, specifically. With an average student age of 35 in her courses, Bishop understood many of these adult learners have familial and professional responsibilities that may compete with their education. Thus, it was important to Bishop to provide instruction in a manner that lets students participate in real-time, but also revisit and engage with the content, when their valuable time allows.

In addition to creating a time-flexible learning environment, Bishop aimed to boost student confidence and understanding, despite the rigor and intensity of the HIT Program subject matter. She needed a way to deliver challenging and detailed content while making it fun and accessible.

Educator's solution & results

Reflecting on the start of her teaching career at PBSC, Bishop recalled participating in Nearpod lessons as part of her first-year faculty orientation cohort. Finding Nearpod easy and enjoyable to use as a learner participant in the cohort, Bishop decided to try implementing the interactive platform into her HIT Program course instruction. Starting small, Bishop first used Nearpod to create her review materials and lessons for the final exam in one course. The students showed immediate success and voiced positive feedback around these new, interactive features, including Time to Climb, Collaborate Board, and more, embedded in the final exam review lesson. Excited to see instantaneous feedback from the students which allowed her to assess their understanding in the moment, Bishop decided to change her delivery method and now uses Nearpod in every lesson across the seven HIT Program courses she teaches.

When Bishop first started using Nearpod in her courses, she was impressed with how straightforward it was to use her pre-existing materials and content, such as PowerPoint, and the simplicity of adding engaging features like polling, quizzes, matching pairs, and more. However, she wondered whether her non-traditional-aged learners would also be receptive to Nearpod’s gamified learning and interactive activities - tools that allow Bishop to receive real-time feedback on student understanding. Pleasantly surprised, Bishop found her older adult learners were some of the most excited to participate in these activities, like Time-to-Climb, which allows for healthy, entertaining competition, and a gamified review of the course content.

The enthusiasm for the platform from older students in Bishop’s course is reflected in an independent study conducted at Phoenix College, a Maricopa Community College. Phoenix College also found increased course success rates for all age groups when using Nearpod, including a 22% higher course success rate for learners aged 30-39. Further, with 20+ formative assessment and dynamic media features available to add to lessons, Bishop has been able to transform passive learning materials on challenging and rigorous health sciences subjects into engaging, fun learning experiences.

Not only has Nearpod provided Bishop’s non-traditional-aged students with the confidence to actively grasp the course content, regardless of modality, but it has also given Bishop reassurance in her teaching skills. “I teach alongside some of the best of the best in certain fields of study, many of which have their doctorates.” In utilizing edtech and seeing improvement in quiz scores, course success rates, and engagement; Bishop believes that Nearpod has given her the right tools to be a successful instructor and address the challenges of engaging adult learners in her HIT Program courses.