The power of parasocial learning: Nurses’ experiences of learning through entertainment-education in the online learning environment

Entertainment-education is a pedagogy commonly used in the sphere of public health to transmit educational messages via mass media such as TV and radio soap operas style dramas. In this context learners are perceived as the passive recipients of educational messages. In my work I explore the use of entertainment-education in the higher education setting with nurse learners using entertainment-education dramas in the online learning environment. By exploring nurse learners’ experience of online entertainment-education dramas I discovered that learning through entertainment-education is an active, emotional and transformative experience. I have called this process parasocial learning.