Developing Online Learning Environments in Nursing Education, 3rd Edition

This book provides practical guidelines on using the Web to teach student nurses, train or retrain nurses, and certify competencies and skills. It is about using the web and all its richness to teach students and professional nurses how to use technology and to maintain competency and embrace lifelong learning as a nursing professional. The nurses performing these activities need knowledge and skills such as pedagogy and the study of learning, specifically learning through a guided constructivist model; the infrastructure needed to facilitate online strategies; the technology courseware and software necessary to teach in online environments; reconceptualizing course content from face-to-face to an online environment; designing online learning environments; creating blended-learning environments; communicating and interacting online; managing online learning; assessing and evaluating learning in online environments; the theory of continuing medical education; and preparing for professional staff development. The book explores the incorporation of online learning in the staff development setting, how it impacts both educators and learners, and the outcomes that can be realized by doing so. Aspects of each of these elements make the use of online learning in the hospital setting a unique challenge. The responsibility for demonstrating that online learning strategies can produce a strong return on investment (ROI) in terms of cost and time savings and improved patient and organizational outcomes lies with nursing professional development (NDP) educators. This must be done via a thoughtful, outcomes-based approach to learning needs assessment, course design, and program evaluation.