| This dissertation investigates the use of observational learning enhanced health instruction to mitigate problems of low language competency among learners. Low language competency can cause improper comprehension of medical instruction and health education, resulting in misdiagnosis, reduced recall, under reporting of medical conditions and reduced adherence to medical advice. In addition to severely reducing the quality of healthcare to low language competency populations, such issues also translate to tens of billions of dollars in losses each year. Guided by the social cognitive theory, a learning method was proposed which used Natural User Interface (NUI) software to deliver observational learning enhancements. A randomized full experiment, double blind procedure was undertaken with one treatment and one control group, with the treatment group receiving the observational learning enhancement. The results of the study show that, for audiences with low language competency, observational learning enhanced health instruction results in significantly better accuracy of performance and better learner self-efficacy than status quo audio-video based learning methods. The results also showed the successful extension of the observational learning model to NUI based systems. |
