Using simulation in teaching communication skills influences motivation

Introduction
The use of simulation applications may improve teaching communication (dialogue) skillse.g. 1,2. To this end virtual simulator called Communicate! has been developed by Utrecht University3. In Communicate!, students play a scenario and hold a consultation with a virtual character. Teachers can build scenarios and apply specific scenarios to be used as practice for students or even as assessment method.

Aim & research question
We wondered if the use of Communicate! can aid acquiring communication skills in several operationalisations of learning outcomes. For this abstract we focus on the usability aspects of Communicate! and how using it influences motivational and emotional aspects with respect to the task at hand (in this case conducting a ‘bad-news dialogue’).

Set-up & method
In two experiments (n = 128 and 133, part of a course on communication-skills) using Communicate! was compared to literature study and a attending a lecture. Students were divided in four groups, two of which both read an article about conducting a bad-news dialogue and played a bad-news-dialogue-scenario (but in different order), while the third group only played the scenario. The final group only read the article (expt 1) or read the article and attended a lecture on the topic (expt 2).

Result
In both experiments playing the scenario increased the students’ rating of immersion and usability, compared to reading the article. Students also felt more motivated to learn about the subject after playing the scenario. On the other hand, the scenario decreased the sense of self-efficacy relative to reading the article, which might indicate the transition from Unconscious Incompetence to Conscious Incompetence. The scores on other motivational constructs and different emotions was less consistent across experiments.

Conclusion
Simulations and literature studies induce different motivations towards learning communication skills.