Fostering professional trainers with robot-based digital storytelling: A brainstorming, selection, forming and evaluation model for training guidance

In a working environment which requires professional knowledge and judgment-making ability, professional trainers play an important role; through effective professional training, they can help newcomers to successfully apply their expertise in the workplace. Hence, how to cultivate excellent professional trainers has become an important issue of talent cultivation for various enterprises. In a hospital, professional trainers with excellent teaching ability can not only help new nursing staff develop their ability for handling practical cases, but may also affect their sense of identity recognition for the nursing profession. Teaching plan design and materials production courses for professional trainers in general hospitals are still taught using a conventional lecturing method. Such training mostly focuses on medical professional content and techniques, rather than teaching plan design and content organization. A few training institutions have attempted to use digital storytelling (DST) to train professional trainers in teaching plan design and content organization. However, conventional DST pays more attention to the content of the story, and lacks emotional expression and interaction. In order to tackle this problem, the present study proposed a robot-based DST approach based on the Brainstorming, Selection, Forming, and Evaluation (BSFE) model. To verify its effectiveness, this study conducted an experiment in a Diabetes Teaching Plan Design and Materials Production course. The results showed that in comparison with the conventional DST (C-DST) learning approach, the R-DST learning approach could enhance professional trainers’ learning achievement, learning attitude, critical thinking awareness, and learning satisfaction. On the other hand, it also increased their cognitive load.