Entry level nursing graduate students’ perception and readiness toward online component of blended learning: A mixed method study
نویسندگان
1 Allied Health and Human Performance, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
2 Faculty of Nursing, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
3 Department of Allied Health Sciences, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
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5 Centre for Health Professionals Education and Department of Paediatrics, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
6 Faculty of Physiotherapy, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
doi
چکیده
BACKGROUND: Blended learning (BL), the integration of online with face to face teaching, isestablished as a teaching method in higher education. Understanding the learner’s readinesstoward online component of BL is important in designing and delivering BL. Nursing students requireproficiency in interpersonal relationship and social interaction apart from knowledge and skills. BLmay provide an opportunity to acquire the professional skills better than the traditional face to facesessions. The objectives of this study were to identify the nursing student’s readiness toward BLand perceptions about the online learning component of BL.MATERIALS AND METHODS: First‑ and second‑year entry level graduate nursing students of SriRamachandra Institute of Higher Education, Chennai, India, were the participants of the study. Thisstudy used a mixed method approach. An online questionnaire, developed based on the literatureand expert consensus, was used in the first phase. A focus group discussion (FGD) with ten randomparticipants of the survey was conducted to understand the perceptions and readiness to adopt the onlinecomponent of BL. The present study was conducted from December 2019 to January 2020. Surveyresults were analyzed through descriptively. Content analysis was carried to summarize FGD results.RESULTS: A total 158 students of entry level nursing graduate programme participated in the survey.53.8% of felt BL will have positive effect on their learning and 70% of the respondents were readyto adopt BL. The FGD identified two themes: (I) Readiness to adopt online learning as a componentof BL and (II) perceived barriers and challenges in adopting online contents.CONCLUSION: Entry level nursing graduate students had a positive perception about the onlinecomponents. Majority of them are confident in accessing the online contents. Willingness to learnthrough online, previous experience with online learning, and perceived advantages of onlinecomponent might influence the learner’s readiness. Availability of internet and absence of teacherswere perceived as the barriers to online learning by the participants.
