Using simulation in teaching dialogue skills

Maarten van der Smagt, Michiel H Hulsbergen

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperAcademic

Abstract

To aid teaching communication (dialogue) skills a virtual simulator called Communicate! was developed by Utrecht University. 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.

We wondered if and how Communicate! can be an effective aid to study and practise communication skills. We devised two experiments (n = 128 and 133, a year apart) where the use of Communicate! was compared to more traditional learning tools, such as literature study and a lecture, in an undergraduate psychology communication-skills course. 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).

In both experiments, playing a scenario improved performance on a similar scenario played later. It increased the students’ rating of immersion and usability, and the students’ motivation to learn about this topic when compared to reading the article, whereas their sense of self-efficacy decreased. Surprisingly, it also improved the score on a MC-knowledge test on the theory underpinning this type of dialogue.

Our study suggests that simulating dialogues with virtual characters can aid in studying and practising (basic) dialogue skills, by providing a flexible and authentic learning experience.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusUnpublished - 2021
EventESPLAT conference 2021: Teaching and Learning Psychology in Times of COVID and Beyond - (online), Heidelberg, Germany
Duration: 2 Sept 20213 Sept 2021

Conference

ConferenceESPLAT conference 2021: Teaching and Learning Psychology in Times of COVID and Beyond
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityHeidelberg
Period2/09/213/09/21

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