Background Selecting and applying an appropriate theoretical model is essential in research development.

Aim To describe the use of the simplified teaching-meaningful learning (STML) model to guide a qualitative case study that explored the meaningful learning of students with diverse backgrounds at a training workshop for new software.

Discussion The authors discuss how STML helped determine the qualitative case study’s research question, gave direction to the choice of methods for collecting and analysing data, and built the context to interpret and discuss the findings.

Conclusion Using an appropriate theoretical model assists in the design and conduct of a qualitative case study that develops scientific evidence to understand students’ meaningful learning of new technologies.

Implications for practice The four steps of the model might be useful for researchers in designing and conducting other qualitative research in different subject areas in nursing and other disciplines.