Active Learning Methods in Nursing Education A New Paradigm?
The overall aim of the ongoing research project is to develop new learning environments in nursing education, adapted to latest technology and active learning methods. The present research focuses on the students' satisfaction with the active learning methods used in the course "Basic Nursing Skills" in which theoretical and practical elements are included. Blended learning environments have been used, which are represented by traditional classroom teaching, self directed studies, written assignments and the flipped classroom. The research has a qualitative research design and the sample used is the first year students in the English Degree Programme in Nursing at Novia University of Applied Sciences. Finland is a bilingual country with Finnish as the language for the majority and Swedish is the minority language. Novia UAS is a University with Swedish as main language and the English Degree Programmes at Novia UAS are few and small. The study applies constructivism as the underpinning philosophy of active learning, and coaching as the approach to teaching. Contact teaching consists mainly of an introduction, supervision, and evaluation. The students receive carefully designed guides for expected learning outcomes. Regarding the practical parts, the students have access to instruction films and a laboratory environment for practice. The students decide when they are ready for their given practical procedure to be evaluated, and record the procedure with their own devices. The students' videos are uploaded as unlisted on YouTube and sent to the teacher, who subsequently evaluates the students' performances of the given procedure. The study also investigates student views on the flipped classroom technique where the classroom is transferred to a bed ward with several, mainly elderly, bedridden patients at a local health care center. The overall student response is positive, the students felt that the methods used provided a good way of attaining deep insights into the subject and that the variety of methods and tasks stimulated learning.