Assessment Research in Nursing Education: The Case for Q Methodology

Despite the rhetoric emphasizing the need to become evidence-based practitioners, most nursing educational practice is still not based on comprehensive, cumulative, or robust evidence. The reasons for this are multiple and involve both methodological and pragmatic issues. Applied research in the fields of nursing education takes place in real time and in changingcontexts, over which full control is impossible. The purpose of this discussion is to present the key challenges facing educational outcomes-assessment researchers and to call for the increased use of Q methodology in nursing education scholarship. Q methodology is able to tease out prevalent discourses and subjectivities and provide invaluableinsight into the various views held by stakeholders. Indeed, it might invite an opportunity to include a largely forgotten voice in nursing educational outcomes-assessment research: the patient. Following a briefreview of Q methodology in educational research, research is proposed that would include Q methodology to inform nursing curricula and build more active collaborations between academia and clinical practice

Exploring e-learning adoption in nurse education: a socio-cultural case study using Q and Bourdieu

This research study employed Q-methodology (Q) to explore the factors influencing e-learning adoption in a nurse education context, and Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice (TOP) to analyse these findings using a case study of one school of nursing in the UK. E-learning adoption has been limited in nurse education despite a wide body of literature promoting its use for improved learning outcomes. Most research studies to date have used surveys to explore the overarching factors influencing academics to adopt e-learning across higher education more generally, but these findings have not identified the underlying issues influencing their responses to these factors, nor do they allow a deep analysis of discipline-specific factors. This study identified four groups (Factors) of academics each responding differently towards e-learning in their teaching. The first group represented the ‘e-advocates’ who saw technology as having the potential to improve nurse education by giving more control to learners and preparing future nurses for their evolving role in health care. The second group represented the ‘humanists’ who although sharing similar pedagogical beliefs as the first group had not been motivated to engage with technology because of the value they placed on human interaction. The third group was described as the ‘sceptics’ who had had previous negative experiences with e-learning and were unconvinced about technology’s ability to improve learning outcomes. Finally, the fourth factor, the ‘pragmatics,’ although ostensibly positive in their views towards e-learning, held different pedagogical beliefs from the three other groups and felt it was their responsibility to cover certain content in a face-to-face setting. The unique combination of Q and Bourdieu’s TOP enabled a deeper analysis of the four groups’ views and the socio-cultural context shaping them, thus providing new insights into academics’ responses to e-learning. Moving beyond the binary labels commonly attributed to those considered either ‘early adopters’ or ‘laggards,’ the findings make a contribution to the e-learning adoption literature by revealing a wider breadth of views and responses towards technology. Moreover, this study showed that internal beliefs determined the extent to which external factors were perceived as influential. This serves to explain why some individuals overcome certain barriers to e-learning adoption whilst others succumb to them. The findings from this study will inform policy-makers, e-learning strategists and professional development staff on how to more effectively present and promote e-learning

Cooperation preferences and framing effects

This paper presents the results from an experiment investigating whether framing affects the elicitation and predictive power of preferences for cooperation, i.e., the willingness to cooperate with others. Cooperation preferences are elicited in three treatments using the method of Fischbacher, Gächter and Fehr (2001). The treatments vary two features of their method: the sequence and order in which the contributions of other group members are presented. The predictive power of the elicited preferences is evaluated in a one-shot and a finitely-repeated public-good game. I find that the order in which the contributions of others are presented, by and large, has no impact on the elicited preferences and their predictive power. In contrast, presenting the contributions of others in a sequence has a pronounced effect on the elicited preferences and reduces substantially their predictive power. Overall, elicited preferences are more accurate at predicting behavior when others contributions are presented simultaneously and in ascending order, like in Fischbacher, Gächter and Fehr (2001)

Exploring e-learning adoption in nurse education: a socio-cultural case study using Q and Bourdieu

This research study employed Q-methodology (Q) to explore the factors influencing e-learning adoption in a nurse education context, and Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice (TOP) to analyse these findings using a case study of one school of nursing in the UK. E-learning adoption has been limited in nurse education despite a wide body of literature promoting its use for improved learning outcomes. Most research studies to date have used surveys to explore the overarching factors influencing academics to adopt e-learning across higher education more generally, but these findings have not identified the underlying issues influencing their responses to these factors, nor do they allow a deep analysis of discipline-specific factors. This study identified four groups (Factors) of academics each responding differently towards e-learning in their teaching. The first group represented the ‘e-advocates’ who saw technology as having the potential to improve nurse education by giving more control to learners and preparing future nurses for their evolving role in health care. The second group represented the ‘humanists’ who although sharing similar pedagogical beliefs as the first group had not been motivated to engage with technology because of the value they placed on human interaction. The third group was described as the ‘sceptics’ who had had previous negative experiences with e-learning and were unconvinced about technology’s ability to improve learning outcomes. Finally, the fourth factor, the ‘pragmatics,’ although ostensibly positive in their views towards e-learning, held different pedagogical beliefs from the three other groups and felt it was their responsibility to cover certain content in a face-to-face setting. The unique combination of Q and Bourdieu’s TOP enabled a deeper analysis of the four groups’ views and the socio-cultural context shaping them, thus providing new insights into academics’ responses to e-learning. Moving beyond the binary labels commonly attributed to those considered either ‘early adopters’ or ‘laggards,’ the findings make a contribution to the e-learning adoption literature by revealing a wider breadth of views and responses towards technology. Moreover, this study showed that internal beliefs determined the extent to which external factors were perceived as influential. This serves to explain why some individuals overcome certain barriers to e-learning adoption whilst others succumb to them. The findings from this study will inform policy-makers, e-learning strategists and professional development staff on how to more effectively present and promote e-learning

Developing a digital learning version of a mentorship training programme

This article describes the experience of one university team in developing, delivering and evaluating an online Nursing and Midwifery Council-approved mentorship programme for nurses and midwives who support pre-registration students in practice. Although the authors are confident of the quality of the educational provision, this article does not discuss this programme as an exemplar of best practice, but aims to share the learning gained from the experience of introducing a digital learning version of a mentorship course

Serious Gaming and Gamification interventions for health professional education

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To evaluate the effectiveness of Serious Gaming and Gamification interventions for delivering pre- and post-registration health professional education compared with traditional learning, other types of eLearning, or other Serious Gaming and Gamification interventions. We will primarily assess the impact of these interventions on students' knowledge, skills, professional attitudes and satisfaction

Lien entre environnement, développement et les institutions d'une société

Rapport de rechercheNuméro de référence interne originel : a1.1 g 84

Lien entre environnement, développement et les institutions d'une société

Rapport de rechercheNuméro de référence interne originel : a1.1 g 84