Other Titles

Rapid Presentation Round

Abstract

Purpose: To provide guidance for faculty interested in creating materials using AI tools for nursing courses which allows ‘unadoption’ of textbooks.

Background: When discussing AI text generation tools like ChatGPT and Gemini (AI tools), many nursing faculty are only aware of the risks to academic writing (Abujaber et al., 2023). But there are many pedagogical benefits of AI tools that enhance student learning (Elting & Desio, 2024; Glauberman et al., 2023; Srinivasan et al., 2024) and manage faculty teaching, communication, and administrative tasks (Srinivasan et al., 2024). What is less known is how AI tools can be used to create course content and replace textbooks. Students report that costs prevent them from buying books even if it might harm their grade (US PIRG Education Fund, 2021) and if purchased many are not reading them (McMurtrie, 2024). For faculty, requiring a textbook when only sections are used reinforces student perceptions that textbooks are not important. Before AI tools, creating original content was time-consuming. Now faculty who are content experts can easily create effective materials, particularly in courses with stable foundational knowledge, such as research or policy.

Approach: In an undergraduate nursing research/EBP course, prompts to create modules aligned with weekly topics in the course schedule were entered into ChatGPT. Together 12 topic modules were created and pasted into Google docs. As a content expert, the author reviewed the modules carefully to ensure information was correct and appropriate for the course. Content was deleted, rewritten, or added, as were graphics and website links. The results were content specific 2-4 page modules credited to ChatGPT and edited by the faculty. References included a research text, journal articles, government websites, and professional nursing organizations. Saved as ‘view only’ docs to allow updates, the links were pasted into the learning management system.

Results and Implications: Students were initially unhappy that slides were not provided but were assured everything they needed was in the short modules. They appreciated not paying for a book - some admitted they would not have bought it anyway. Now faculty track module use and students prepare for class more consistently, which promotes active participation and critical thinking. While perhaps not appropriate for clinical nursing courses, using AI tools in courses with stable content foundations has been very successful.

Notes

References:

Abujaber, A. A., Abd-Alrazaq, A., Al-Qudimat, A. R., & Nashwan, A. J. (2023). A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of ChatGPT integration in nursing education: A narrative review. Cureus, 15(11), e48643. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.48643

Elting, J.K., & Desio, M.G. (2024). AI prompts for nursing students to support independent learning. Nurse Educator, 49(5), E243. DOI: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000001633

Glauberman, G., Ito-Fujita, A., Katz, S., & Callahan, J. (2023). Artificial intelligence in nursing education: Opportunities and challenges. Hawai'i Journal of Health & Social Welfare, 82(12), 302–305. https://hawaiijournalhealth.org/

McMurtrie, B. (2024, May 9). Is this the end of reading? The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/is-this-the-end-of-reading

Srinivasan, M., Venugopal, A., Venkatesan, L., & Kumar, R. (2024). Navigating the pedagogical landscape: Exploring the implications of AI and chatbots in nursing education. JMIR Nursing, 7, e52105. https://doi.org/10.2196/52105

US PIRG Education Fund. (2021, Feb 23). Fixing the broken textbook market. https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/fixing-the-broken-textbook-market-third-edition/

Description

Nursing faculty who are content experts can now create alternatives to textbooks using AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini. In non-clinical courses with stable foundational content, such as research or policy, it can be highly effective. For students, it means one less textbook to buy and shorter, relevant readings. After the initial time investment, faculty can hold students accountable to prepare for class, incorporating active learning like flipped classroom and group discussions.

Author Details

Julie Kientz Elting, EdD, RN, CNE

Sigma Membership

Omega Nu

Type

Presentation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Other

Research Approach

Other

Keywords:

Teaching and Learning Strategies, Implementation Science, Curriculum Development, Nursing Education, Emerging Technologies, Textbook Alternatives, Artificial Intelligence

Conference Name

48th Biennial Convention

Conference Host

Sigma Theta Tau International

Conference Location

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Conference Year

2025

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2025-12-01

Click on the above link to access the slide deck.

Share

COinS
 

Goodbye Textbook: Content Creation for a Non-Clinical Nursing Course Using AI Tools

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Purpose: To provide guidance for faculty interested in creating materials using AI tools for nursing courses which allows ‘unadoption’ of textbooks.

Background: When discussing AI text generation tools like ChatGPT and Gemini (AI tools), many nursing faculty are only aware of the risks to academic writing (Abujaber et al., 2023). But there are many pedagogical benefits of AI tools that enhance student learning (Elting & Desio, 2024; Glauberman et al., 2023; Srinivasan et al., 2024) and manage faculty teaching, communication, and administrative tasks (Srinivasan et al., 2024). What is less known is how AI tools can be used to create course content and replace textbooks. Students report that costs prevent them from buying books even if it might harm their grade (US PIRG Education Fund, 2021) and if purchased many are not reading them (McMurtrie, 2024). For faculty, requiring a textbook when only sections are used reinforces student perceptions that textbooks are not important. Before AI tools, creating original content was time-consuming. Now faculty who are content experts can easily create effective materials, particularly in courses with stable foundational knowledge, such as research or policy.

Approach: In an undergraduate nursing research/EBP course, prompts to create modules aligned with weekly topics in the course schedule were entered into ChatGPT. Together 12 topic modules were created and pasted into Google docs. As a content expert, the author reviewed the modules carefully to ensure information was correct and appropriate for the course. Content was deleted, rewritten, or added, as were graphics and website links. The results were content specific 2-4 page modules credited to ChatGPT and edited by the faculty. References included a research text, journal articles, government websites, and professional nursing organizations. Saved as ‘view only’ docs to allow updates, the links were pasted into the learning management system.

Results and Implications: Students were initially unhappy that slides were not provided but were assured everything they needed was in the short modules. They appreciated not paying for a book - some admitted they would not have bought it anyway. Now faculty track module use and students prepare for class more consistently, which promotes active participation and critical thinking. While perhaps not appropriate for clinical nursing courses, using AI tools in courses with stable content foundations has been very successful.