The effect of the lecture discussion teaching method with and without audio-visual augmentation on immediate and retention learning.

This study determined whether students taught using the lecture-discussion method augmented with audio-visuals would achieve a higher mean score on an immediate post-test and delayed retention test than students presented with a lecture-discussion without audio-visuals. A convenience sample of 52 students divided into two groups voluntarily participated in the quasi-experiment. Two teaching sessions averaging 90 minutes in length were taught by the researcher. Learning and retention were measured by a 10-item multiple choice test with content validity. Immediate learning was measured with a post-test administered immediately following each of the teaching sessions. Delayed learning was measured with a retention test administered 25.5 days following the teaching sessions. Group data was analysed using an independent one tailed t-test for mean scores. Students attending the lecture-discussion with audio-visual augmentation did not achieve significantly higher mean scores on the two tests than the non-augmented group (p less than or equal to 0.05). Analysis using a paired t-test revealed that the difference in scores between the post-test and retention test for the group without audio-visual augmentation was significant (t = 2.31; p less than 0.05). Delayed retention appears to have been influenced by the use of audio-visuals. Nurse educators need to consider ways in which the lecture-discussion may be enhanced to maximise student learning and retention.