Other Titles
Cultural impact in nursing education
Abstract
Purpose: Internationalization at Home, a concept developed in the Netherlands, enables students to have a global experience and engage with international students without leaving home (Teekens, 2015). The use of technology such as social media can provide a viable mechanism by which this can be achieved (Beleen & Jones, 2015; Chan & Nyback, 2015). Social media provides students with an opportunity to share ideas, develop digital communication skills and enrich their learning experience (Roland, Johnson & Swain, 2011; Schmitt, Sims-Giddens & Booth, 2012). The purpose of this project was to create an online community of practice using a blog to stimulate discussion between Canadian and Australian nursing students, focusing on culture and family.
Methods: Australian and Canadian nursing students participated in an international, cross-cultural blog activity that provided an opportunity to engage with each other through a shared blog experience. This learning and teaching activity was imbedded within a Bachelor of Nursing subject at each University. This activity was expected to expand their knowledge through interaction with students from another country, learn about other cultures and share ideas. Questions were posted by faculty to stimulate student discussion related to culture and family. The students posted their response to the questions and replied to each other"s postings. Students who took part in the international blog were invited to evaluate the activity. The evaluation was in the form of an anonymous online questionnaire located within the respective schools eLearning platforms.
Results: Preliminary results indicate that students found this to be a worthwhile learning activity. They were interested in exploring each others personal and professional experience of culture and family through discussion with students from another country. Students reported that the blog was a useful medium for an international learning experience, which they also enjoyed.
Conclusion: Participating in the evaluation provided students with an opportunity to interact with nursing students from another country in a guided learning experience. Students then reflected on their blog experience and assisted instructors to identify the strengths and limitations of the learning activity, illuminate areas for improvement and determine if it would be worthwhile repeating in future. Communication through social media is fast becoming more relevant to nursing practice and the use of social media in nursing education will prepare students to effectively utilize social media and function in a global community of practice.
Sigma Membership
Omicron Xi at-Large
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Internalization at Home, Nursing Education, Social Media
Recommended Citation
Wragg, Siobhan T.; Edgecombe, Nancy A.; and Stephens, Moira, "Evaluating an online global community of practice: Student nurse experiences of a cross-cultural blogging activity" (2017). INRC (Congress). 426.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2017/presentations_2017/426
Conference Name
28th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Dublin, Ireland
Conference Year
2017
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Evaluating an online global community of practice: Student nurse experiences of a cross-cultural blogging activity
Dublin, Ireland
Purpose: Internationalization at Home, a concept developed in the Netherlands, enables students to have a global experience and engage with international students without leaving home (Teekens, 2015). The use of technology such as social media can provide a viable mechanism by which this can be achieved (Beleen & Jones, 2015; Chan & Nyback, 2015). Social media provides students with an opportunity to share ideas, develop digital communication skills and enrich their learning experience (Roland, Johnson & Swain, 2011; Schmitt, Sims-Giddens & Booth, 2012). The purpose of this project was to create an online community of practice using a blog to stimulate discussion between Canadian and Australian nursing students, focusing on culture and family.
Methods: Australian and Canadian nursing students participated in an international, cross-cultural blog activity that provided an opportunity to engage with each other through a shared blog experience. This learning and teaching activity was imbedded within a Bachelor of Nursing subject at each University. This activity was expected to expand their knowledge through interaction with students from another country, learn about other cultures and share ideas. Questions were posted by faculty to stimulate student discussion related to culture and family. The students posted their response to the questions and replied to each other"s postings. Students who took part in the international blog were invited to evaluate the activity. The evaluation was in the form of an anonymous online questionnaire located within the respective schools eLearning platforms.
Results: Preliminary results indicate that students found this to be a worthwhile learning activity. They were interested in exploring each others personal and professional experience of culture and family through discussion with students from another country. Students reported that the blog was a useful medium for an international learning experience, which they also enjoyed.
Conclusion: Participating in the evaluation provided students with an opportunity to interact with nursing students from another country in a guided learning experience. Students then reflected on their blog experience and assisted instructors to identify the strengths and limitations of the learning activity, illuminate areas for improvement and determine if it would be worthwhile repeating in future. Communication through social media is fast becoming more relevant to nursing practice and the use of social media in nursing education will prepare students to effectively utilize social media and function in a global community of practice.