Title: Using a web-based learning environment to promote development of critical thinking skills in baccalaureate undergraduate nursing students

Authors: Ilene B. Gottesfeld

Addresses: Undergraduate Nursing Program, Molloy College, 1000 Hempstead Avenue, Rockville Centre, NY 11571, USA

Abstract: Nursing education, like the healthcare system it prepares professionals to enter, is in a state of transition. Opportunities for student learning in institutional settings are growing more difficult to secure. Traditional methodologies and the modalities that help to mould the nurses entering the 21st century must refocus their efforts to keep in step with the sweeping changes in healthcare. To prepare responsibly current students to meet the challenge of change and succeed in the healthcare arena, nursing educators must infuse alternative learning opportunities into current curricula, while engaging in revising and redesigning future curricula. The NurseWorks Learning Environment was created with the intent to meet current needs and provide a bridge for learning in future curricula. This web-based modality was also devised to provide students with an opportunity to experience simulated clinical environments in which they might practice clinical skills in a safe milieu, as well as situational applications in which their critical thinking skills and translation of theory into practice would be enhanced.

Keywords: critical thinking; NurseWorks; learning environments; alternative learning; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.2000.000358

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 2000 Vol.10 No.1/2/3/4, pp.175-181

Published online: 16 Jul 2003 *

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