An eLearning module is comparable to face-to-face teaching in a nursing human pathophysiology subject.

BACKGROUND: Human pathophysiology is important in undergraduate nursing education to help students develop clinical reasoning skills. Traditionally pathophysiology education in undergraduate nursing is taught face-to-face. However, eLearning in nursing curricula may provide flexible delivery options. OBJECTIVE: With increased inclusion of technology enhanced learning in nursing curricula, a hematology eLearning module was evaluated in a pathophysiology subject to determine whether it was comparable to face-to-face learning. DESIGN: Single-blind randomized pre-test/post-test controlled trial. SETTING: School of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 271 second-year undergraduate students enrolled in Human Pathophysiology were included in the study. Students were from three bachelor programs: Nursing Science; Paramedic Science; and Clinical Exercise Physiology. Students were randomly allocated to either the experimental group (n = 85) or the control group (n = 186). METHODS: A hematology eLearning module was designed to be self-directed and learner-centered, guided by constructivist learning theories for delivery in the human pathophysiology subject. The experimental "eLearning" group completed the module independently, and the control "face-to-face" group completed equivalent paper-based activities facilitated by a tutor. All students completed a pre-test assessment and two post-test assessments two weeks after the intervention and at the end of the subject. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in assessment scores between the experimental and control groups, or between nursing and other programs. CONCLUSION: eLearning was comparable to face-to-face teaching in this study. We recommend further research to strengthen the links between pathophysiology theory to clinical reasoning skills using eLearning.

Immersive 3D Experience of Osmosis Improves Learning Outcomes of First-Year Cell Biology Students.

biological processes that occur at the submicroscopic level, such as osmosis and diffusion, are inherently difficult for many students to conceptualize when traditional learning and teaching methods are used. This study introduced an immersive 320° three-dimensional (3D) experience of osmosis in which students became engaged with the cellular environment in a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment. The aims of this study were: 1) to explore whether a textbook diagram of osmosis recreated as an immersive 3D learning experience would be a meaningful tutorial activity for first-year cell biology students at a regional Australian university; and 2) to gather preliminary evidence of the utility of the tutorial by examining student performance data. The experience was perceived by students to be fun, useful, and educational. Performance of all students improved on a multiple-choice exam question, with the percentage of students choosing the osmosis distractor answer decreasing from 26 to 15% (p < 0.001). Those students with moderate to high base-level knowledge also performed better on short-answer questions about the cell membrane and osmosis (10-14% better, depending on base-level knowledge, p < 0.001). We give recommendations for future studies to investigate using immersive visualization in science teaching.

Promoting student engagement and academic achievement in first-year anatomy and physiology courses.

Students from three undergraduate programs at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia, studying combined first-year anatomy and physiology courses, showed different academic achievement in physiology. Physiotherapy students were more active and social when completing learning tasks and achieved significantly higher grades in physiology compared with students enrolled in Sport and Exercise Science and Occupational Therapy programs. To promote academic engagement and achievement by all three groups, discussion questions, case studies, and study guides were included. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using these modified resources to promote active learning, enhance academic social interactions, and provide a supportive learning environment. The occupational therapy students showed increased academic achievement (from 57.9 to 66.5%) following implementation of the new resources, but there was no change in the already high-performing physiotherapy students (73.1%) and, more concerningly, the sport and exercise science students (from 54.6 to 56.7%). Fewer sport and exercise science students had prior learning in chemistry (30.4% of participants) and also spent little time outside class studying (8 h/wk), compared with the physiotherapy cohort (70.0% chemistry; 13 h/wk studying). Findings of this research demonstrate that creating a supportive and active learning environment are important factors in promoting the learning of physiology for some cohorts. Background knowledge, academic self-regulatory skills, and the experience of teaching staff are factors that must be considered when endeavoring to increase student academic achievement. Future studies should examine the effect of students' academic self-regulation and the use of remedial chemistry classes when learning physiology.

The impact of timetable changes on student achievement and learning experiences.

BACKGROUND: Many pre-registration nursing programs in Australia use distributive models of clinical placement whereby students attend placement on regular days each week of the teaching semester. The use of this model offers practical advantages by increasing the placement offerings, but reduces the weekdays available for students to attend on-campus classes. The impact of introducing this model on the delivery of on-campus classes has not been examined. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore the impact of delivering classes using a condensed weekly timetable on the academic achievement, learning experiences and approaches to learning of pre-registration Bachelor of Nursing Science students at an Australian regional university. METHODS: This was a mixed methods study, including Likert-type and free text responses. Second-year students studying Human Pathophysiology and Pharmacology were invited to complete a questionnaire about their learning practices and experiences; student grades were obtained from official university records. RESULTS: The academic achievement of students learning under the condensed class schedule was approximately 7.5% lower than that achieved by cohorts prior to the timetable changes. This resulted in an additional 9% of the cohort failing the subject compared to previous cohorts. Many students reported that they did not prepare adequately for classes and that their learning experiences were negatively impacted by the condensed class timetable. CONCLUSIONS: The incorporation of a distributed model for clinical placements required major changes to the delivery of on-campus coursework classes and added to the semester workload for some Nursing Science students. These changes coincided with lower academic achievement by students learning Human Pathophysiology and Pharmacology and poorer quality learning experiences. The development of students' awareness of how they study and the effectiveness of their study practices may help them to develop self-regulated learning skills which will assist them to succeed in diverse learning environments and workplaces.