Comparing GenAI Summaries Versus Chatbots for Supporting Reflection in Healthcare Simulation

Reflection is critical for learning. In healthcare, simulations help learners practice clinical and teamwork skills, while reflection supports improving practice. Learning analytics (LA) dashboards can support reflection by visualizing activity data, but their effectiveness is limited by learners’ ability to interpret data visualizations and domain knowledge. Generative AI (GenAI) may bridge this gap through narrative explanations of data. Yet little is known about how forms of GenAI support—such as chatbots or summaries—affect reflection. We conducted a comparative study with 41 nursing students who wrote reflections after a simulation, supported by an LA dashboard augmented with a GenAI summary or chatbot. Results suggest that written reflections differed across conditions: GenAI summaries help align reflections with learning goals, while chatbots encourage consideration of actions and plans. However, nursing teachers identified no difference in the quality of plans. These findings suggest GenAI configuration may shape how technologies support reflection.

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Publication Details

Journal
International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
Published
2026-09-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2026.2731321
Primary Topic
Simulation-Based Education in Healthcare
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Comparing GenAI Summaries Versus Chatbots for Supporting Reflection in Healthcare Simulation

Viktoria Pammer‐Schindler, Linxuan Zhao, Abra Osborne, Dragan Gašević et al.
International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
Simulation-Based Education in Healthcare
article

Comparing GenAI Summaries Versus Chatbots for Supporting Reflection in Healthcare Simulation

Viktoria Pammer‐Schindler, Linxuan Zhao, Abra Osborne, Dragan Gašević, Lixiang Yan, Roberto Martínez‐Maldonado, Riordan Alfredo, Vanessa Echeverría, Yueqiao Jin, Mikaela Elizabeth Milesi, Jie Xiang Fan, Yi‐Shan Tsai
article en

Abstract

Reflection is critical for learning. In healthcare, simulations help learners practice clinical and teamwork skills, while reflection supports improving practice. Learning analytics (LA) dashboards can support reflection by visualizing activity data, but their effectiveness is limited by learners’ ability to interpret data visualizations and domain knowledge. Generative AI (GenAI) may bridge this gap through narrative explanations of data. Yet little is known about how forms of GenAI support—such as chatbots or summaries—affect reflection. We conducted a comparative study with 41 nursing students who wrote reflections after a simulation, supported by an LA dashboard augmented with a GenAI summary or chatbot. Results suggest that written reflections differed across conditions: GenAI summaries help align reflections with learning goals, while chatbots encourage consideration of actions and plans. However, nursing teachers identified no difference in the quality of plans. These findings suggest GenAI configuration may shape how technologies support reflection.

International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (EC), Graz University of Technology (AT), Education University of Hong Kong (HK), Monash University (AU), RMIT University (AU), University of Hong Kong (HK), Tsinghua University (CN)
Quality Education
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Simulation-Based Education in Healthcare
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