The experience of learning and teaching in a non-conventional nursing curriculum

grantor: University of TorontoChanges in health care require that nurses have increased abilities in the areas of critical thinking, decision-making, delegation and independence. Changes in nursing education are needed that foster these abilities. One educational approach believed to result in these outcomes is problem-based, small group and self-directed learning. This study explored the experiences of students and teachers participating in a curriculum grounded in this approach to education. Data were collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods within a case study design. The Course Experience Questionnaire, which was administered to all students enrolled in the Generic Stream of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Programme at McMaster University, provided quantitative data (Response rate 80%; N = 274). Qualitative data were collected though individual interviews conducted with eighteen students and four faculty members from Levels Two and Four of the four year programme. Further qualitative data came from three open-ended questions that were part of the Course Experience Questionnaire. Both students and faculty expressed high levels of satisfaction with the educational approach. Student level of satisfaction was not related significantly to age, previous education or employment status. Students described professional benefits of the programme including skills of problem-solving, information searching, critical thinking and communication, and such personal outcomes as assertiveness, confidence and the ability to work with others. Faculty appreciated the freedom and the opportunity to work closely with students. The importance of the tutor role to the process was highlighted by both students and faculty, and positive and negative tutor behaviours were identified. Both students and faculty also described the challenges associated with the approach, and identified the requirement for student and faculty orientation to the process, and the need for ongoing faculty development. A major concern for students and faculty centred on the process of student assessment, which was seen by many students as too subjective and by both students and faculty as insufficient to confirm the level of knowledge attained through the programme. Implications for research and education were identified, aimed at better articulating the process of learning, enhancing the orientation of both students and faculty to the approach, developing more satisfactory methods of student assessment, and evaluating the outcomes for participants of the problem-based, small group, self-directed approach to education compared to the more conventional approach still used in most schools of nursing.Ph.D