Evaluating the effectiveness of Skype as a tool for promoting internationalisation of the nursing curriculum.

<div>The paper examines the effectiveness of </div><div>Skype as a medium for communication, </div><div>support and internationalisation of student nurse programmes. The researchers </div><div>sought to examine whether online face to </div><div>face contact via Skype improved support </div><div>and communication with students nursing overseas and if the use of Skype for online </div><div>communications with students in action le</div><div>arning sets within the home university, </div><div>developed cultural awareness of those nur</div><div>sing students who stayed on native soil. </div><div>The study comprised of focus groups and online questionnaires of staff and students. </div><div>22 students were included in the study, 18 who had experienced physical mobility and </div><div>4 who had experienced virtual mobility. 12 lect</div><div>urers also contributed in their role as </div><div>a personal tutor, module team member or international link lecture for the countries </div><div>in which the students visited. </div><div>4 themes arose from the thematic analysis </div><div>(Braun and Clarke’s (2006) 6 stage model) </div><div>of the narratives of the participants and included operational issues, pastoral care, </div><div>academic and peer support and cultural awareness and development. </div><div>The use of Skype was found to be extremely beneficial in terms of online </div><div>communication and support for students undertaking an international placement. </div><div>However the development of cultural awareness needs further work, using Skype to </div><div>engage students abroad in discussions with students in action learning sets did allow </div><div>students at home to take into account social and cultural differences between </div><div>practices in England and the country their </div><div>peer was on placement, it did not however </div><div>allow examination of their own beliefs, biases</div><div> and prejudices to practice skills of self </div>awareness as would occur in students who experienced international mobilit