Defining Interaction and Strategies to Enhance Interactions in Web-Based Courses

Effects of web-based learning for nurses on their care for pregnant women with hiesho (sensitivity of hands or feet to cold): A randomized controlled trial

AIM

Hiesho is a condition characterized by having a cold sensation in the hands or feet (i.e., sensitivity of the hands or feet to cold). This condition is common among Japanese women and is an important health problem. In this study, we aimed to evaluate a hiesho intervention program for nurses called "Preventing Hiesho: Intervention Program for Educating Nurses" in terms of its effectiveness in improving the knowledge and perceptions of nurses about the importance of hiesho care.

METHODS

A total of 130 nurses from Japanese hospitals and clinics providing prenatal care participated in our randomized controlled trial. Sixty-eight nurses participated in the "Preventing Hiesho: Intervention Program for Educating Nurses" for 2 weeks (intervention group). Sixty-two nurses received a pamphlet on hiesho care (control group). The responses of the participants to the questionnaire survey were collected by postal mail. An intention-to-treat analysis of the results was conducted.

RESULTS

One week after the implementation of the web-based learning program, the scores of knowledge and perceptions of the importance of administering hiesho care were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

A 2-week web-based learning program for educating nurses on preventing hiesho significantly improved their knowledge and perceptions of the importance of hiesho care.

Development of a web-based virtual simulated learning environment for pharmacy practice education

Objective:

In the present study, we aimed to develop a virtual simulation that allows pharmacy students to play through actual prescriptions and pharmacy practice scenarios productively and on a personal computer. If designed properly, this program may serve as a supplementary educational tool without the need for an existing human tutor that could provide learning outcomes as good as those resulting from traditional paper-based pharmacy practice tutorials.

Methods:

A computer-based simulation of a community pharmacy was developed. This program mainly targeted three basic learning needs of pharmacy students: drug dispensing, patient counseling, and dealing with clinical situations related to the patients’ prescription or demand for over-the-counter (OTC) recommendations. Fundamental design decisions were based on breaking down the dispensing process into logical components to provide discrete development elements. For teaching patient counseling and clinical skills, instructors wrote scenarios covering the most prevalent pharmacy practice issues, mainly focused on medication use during pregnancy or lactation, OTC recommendations, information related to drug interactions and adverse drug reactions, and interactions between prescription drugs and patient's underlying disease.

Findings:

Based on the primary curriculum topics, the development team designed exercises for pharmacy practice units presented to year 5 pharmacy students. Accordingly, exercises were developed to authentically reflect tasks and challenges a community pharmacist would regularly face in the workplace. To fulfill this part, over 2000 real prescriptions were scanned and categorized based on the main drugs included. These prescriptions were used for both activities, namely medication dispensing and clinical scenarios. Furthermore, five senior pharmacy students wrote more than 200 clinical scenarios under a clinical pharmacist's supervision. The main objectives of pharmacy practice courses were followed to cover the most important must-to-know clinical tips, whether related to giving relevant advice as an OTC recommendation, referring the patient to a primary care physician, or just providing a piece of general health advice, which is expected to be comprehensively learned by pharmacy students.

Conclusion:

This program was designed as a simulated learning environment to help students develop prescription dispensing and clinical skills. To be considered a success, this simulation needed to provide equivalent or better learning outcomes than the current practice approach, which should be assessed in the future evaluation of the software, and then be promoted accordingly.

Effect of virtual versus traditional education on theoretical knowledge and reporting skills of dental students in radiographic interpretation of bony lesions of the jaw

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to compare the effect of virtual and traditional education on theoretical knowledge and reporting skills of dental students in radiographic interpretation of bony lesions of the jaw.

METHODS

This experimental study evaluated 39 dental students who had not received any instruction regarding radiographic interpretation of bony lesions of the jaw. They were randomly divided into two groups of virtual (n = 20) and traditional education (n = 19) and matched in terms of their grade point average (GPA). The virtual group received a virtual learning package while the traditional group received traditional classroom instruction for 6 one-hour sessions. Similar contents were taught to both groups by the same mentor. All students participated in a theoretical test with multiple-choice questions and an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Similar exams were also held 2 months later to assess knowledge retention. Data were analyzed using independent sample t-test and repeated measures ANOVA.

RESULTS

The mean scores of theoretical test (P < 0.05) and OSCE (P > 0.05) in the virtual education group (16.60 ± 0.91 and 15.13 ± 0.78) were higher than those in the traditional education group (14.89 ± 0.99 and 14.71 ± 0.92). In both methods of instruction, the mean scores of theoretical test and OSCE at 2 months were lower than the scores acquired immediately after instruction but this difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Type of education had a significant effect on the theoretical test score (P < 0.001) but had no significant effect on the clinical score (P = 0.072).

CONCLUSIONS

Virtual learning was superior to traditional lecture-based method for enhancement of knowledge acquisition in radiographic interpretation of bony lesions of the jaw. However, to improve our students' reporting skills, we need to revise our virtual educational program so that the students have more opportunities to engage in reporting skills.

The Effect of Health Belief Model-Based Education through Telegram Instant Messaging Services on Pap smear performance

Background:

Pap smear is an effective screening method for early detection of cervical cancer. This study aimed to investigate the effect of education based on Health Belief Model (HBM) through Telegram instant messaging services on the Pap smear test.

Material and methods:

This research was a quasi-experimental study which was performed on 106 eligible women (48 participants in the intervention group and 47 participants in the control group). The patients in both groups completed the written consent form and questionnaires at the beginning of the study. In intervention group, the educational content based on HBM was regularly sent via Telegram during one month. After education and three months later, both groups completed questionnaires. Then, the data was analyzed with using SPSS version 22.

Results:

The findings showed that the two groups at first were similar in demographic characteristics. In the intervention group, the mean difference of the scores before and immediate post training on the knowledge and all of the constructs were significant (P<0.001). Also, the mean difference of the scores before and three months after training on knowledge and all of the constructs (except for perceived barriers) has increased and about the perceived barriers this difference has decreased significantly compared to the score before the training. In the control group, changes in knowledge and other constructs were not significant in during the study. Within the three months after the training, 23 participants (47.9%) in the intervention group, and 4 participants (5.8%) in the control group performed Pap smear which indicates a statistically significant difference (P<0.001).

Conclusion:

With regard to the individuals’ access to mobile phone, content posted by Telegram on the HBM-based education affects the women’s belief and behavior regarding Pap smear test.

Value of Web-based learning activities for nursing students who speak English as a second language

There is an increasing need to address the educational needs of students with English as a second language. The authors assessed the value of a Web-based activity to meet the needs of students with English as a second language in a bioscience subject. Using telephone contact, we interviewed 21 Chinese students, 24 non-Chinese students with English as a second language, and 7 native English-speaking students to identify the perception of the value of the intervention. Four themes emerged from the qualitative data: (1) Language is a barrier to achievement and affects self-confidence; (2) Enhancement intervention promoted autonomous learning; (3) Focusing on the spoken word increases interaction capacity and self-confidence; (4) Assessment and examination drive receptivity and sense of importance. Targeted strategies to promote language acculturation and acquisition are valued by students. Linking language acquisition skills to assessment tasks is likely to leverage improvements in competence.

Nursing students' perception of a Web-based intervention to support learning

Tailoring information to the needs of the learner is an important strategy in contemporary education settings. Web-based learning support, informed by multimedia theory, comprising interactive quizzes, glossaries with audio, short narrated Power Point(R) presentations, animations and digitised video clips were introduced in a first year Bachelor of Nursing biological sciences subject at a university in metropolitan Sydney. All students enrolled in this unit were invited to obtain access to the site and the number of hits to the site was recorded using the student tracking facility available on WebCT, an online course delivery tool adopted widely by many educational institutions and used in this study. Eighty-five percent of students enrolled in the subject accessed the learning support site. Students' perception of the value of a learning support site was assessed using a web-based survey. The survey was completed by 123 participants, representing a response rate of 22%. Three themes emerged from the qualitative data concerning nursing students' perception of the web-based activities: 'enhances my learning', 'study at my own pace', and 'about the activities: what I really liked/disliked'. Web-based interventions, supplementing a traditionally presented nursing science course were perceived by students to be beneficial in both learning and language development. Although students value interactive, multimedia learning they were not ready to completely abandon traditional modes of learning including face-to-face lectures. The findings of this study contribute to an understanding of how web-based resources can be best used to support students' learning in bioscience.

Transposing Yallom: recognizing and understanding group dynamics in a Canadian online diploma in psychiatric nursing

Given the historical association between psychiatric/mental health (P/MH) nursing education and group formats, and the recent shift to online education, one might expect to see a well developed literature that focuses on P/MH nurse education in online group settings; yet this is patently not the case. This paper attempts to redress this omission by drawing on educational material produced in a regional online diploma in psychiatric nursing. After reviewing the relevant extant literature, it adopts Yallom's seminal work and transposes this into online group settings. Examples of postings drawn from this programme are then used to help recognize and understand online group dynamics. The authors conclude that group dynamics are as much a part of online P/MH nurse education as they have been for 'traditional', face-to-face, educational programs, albeit manifest, expressed and encountered in different ways. Secondly, acknowledging the existence of these group dynamics creates the need for a new skill set, or maybe the transposition of an existing skill set for P/MH nursing educators. Thirdly, examination/analysis of student online postings (virtual case studies) enables the tentative epistemological transposition of face-to-face group dynamics into the online version.

Distance education in nursing: an integrated review of online nursing students' experiences with technology-delivered instruction

One proposed solution to educating more nurses to decrease and eventually eliminate the nursing shortage is distance education. But what are nursing students' experiences with distance education? Answering this question can assist in the development of effective teaching and learning strategies to provide for the development of quality distance education programs. This article provides an integrative review of the nursing literature to ascertain the student perspective of distance education. A review of nursing literature was completed using a number of databases and specific criteria to locate research studies specific to this topic. The studies were analyzed for validity and reliability, and limitations were mentioned. Student perceptions garnered from the research studies analyzed are summarized with the acronym DISTANCE ED. Implications, recommendations, and needs for future research are discussed. A supplementary review of the literature is used to augment the findings.

Using the WWW to teach undergraduate nurses clinical communication

On-line learning is increasingly being used in nursing education. Nevertheless, there is still insufficient evidence to demonstrate: whether students respond positively when this form of learning is used to teach relatively practical or clinical subjects; whether it is effective; and whether it is fair to students with less access to, or familiarity with, computers and the internet. In 2003, an on-line Unit on clinical communication was developed for Australian undergraduate nurses in partnership between an Australian School of Nursing and the Department of Clinical Psychology. Students were overwhelmingly positive in their evaluation of the Unit although some regretted the lack of face-to-face contact with tutors and peers. The best aspects of the Unit included the content and structure being perceived as interesting, fun and informative, the relevance of the material for them as nurses, flexibility to work independently, promotion of critical thinking and gaining an understanding of client issues. Neither their evaluation nor their final grades were related to students' age or whether they preferred on-line or traditional learning. Students who had readily available computer access, however, had better final grades. Also, students' grades were correlated with how often they accessed the Unit.

The design, marketing, and implementation of online continuing education about computers and nursing informatics

Asynchronous online tutorials using PowerPoint slides with accompanying audio to teach practicing nurses about computers and nursing informatics were designed for this project, which awarded free continuing education units to completers. Participants had control over the advancement of slides, with the ability to repeat when desired. Graphics were kept to a minimum; thus, the program ran smoothly on computers using dial-up modems. The tutorials were marketed in live meetings and through e-mail messages on nursing listservs. Findings include that the enrollment process must be automated and instantaneous, the program must work from every type of computer and Internet connection, marketing should be live and electronic, and workshops should be offered to familiarize nurses with the online learning system.

Promoting Active Learning Through On-Line Discussion Boards

The authors describe faculty experiences in developing and evaluating on-line discussion boards for an undergraduate nursing program. The advantages and limitations of on-line discussions as well as various applications of the methodology are presented. A variety of innovative applications for on-line discussions in undergraduate didactic and clinically based nursing courses are illustrated.

From Beginning to End

To assess the feasibility of incorporating video applications into distance education courses, faculty and student produced videos to aid in transferring knowledge from nursing courses to clinical practice. Student videos validated prerequisite physical assessment knowledge and skills, allowing identification of students who needed remedial work, therefore, facilitating progression into the advanced content. Faculty-generated video vignettes simulated family dynamics, thus making abstract content concrete. Vignettes were also used to evaluate students' attainment of counseling techniques through testing applications.

Top 10 Reasons to Take Your Graduate Program in Psychiatric Nursing Online

1. Removing barriers to graduate psychiatric nursing education is possible by delivering courses via the Internet. 2. The Internet is full of valuable resources for graduate psychiatric nursing education. 3. Successful online learning environments involve a paradigm shift on the part of faculty from traditional teaching to facilitating the learning of adult students. 4. Increasing the number of advanced practice psychiatric nurses through Web-based education will transform the delivery of mental health care.