Digital Learning Interventions in Higher Education: A Scoping Review

Online degree programmes in nurse education-Students' perceptions and academic performance: An integrative review

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this integrative review is to identify, describe, and synthesise evidence regarding students' perceptions of online degree programmes in nurse education, their academic performance, and the factors associated with their academic performance.

DESIGN

Integrative review.

DATA SOURCES

Four databases, CINAHL, ERIC (Ebsco), PubMed/MEDLINE, and Web of Science were searched. The reference lists of included studies were reviewed to identify other relevant studies.

REVIEW METHODS

Whittemore and Knafl's method was used as a guideline for the integrative review. Peer-reviewed studies describing students' perceptions of-or academic performance in-online degree programmes in nurse education were included in the review without time limitations. The quality of the selected article was assessed using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool.

RESULTS

Nursing students' perceptions of online degree programmes were categorised into enabling career development, content delivered online, and community belonging. Factors related to student's academic performance were associated with individual students and the characteristics of online learning environments. Factors associated with students' academic performance were individual self-direction, formal communication skills, and working and educational backgrounds. Factors associated with academic performance in an online learning environment were categorised into regular feedback and methods for learning.

CONCLUSIONS

Online degree programmes in nurse education contribute to developing pedagogy through a satisfactory work-life balance, students' experiences of community and support, pleasant digital content, and various teaching methods by faculties. The study findings of this review have implications for educators to develop and adopt strategies for advancing digital environments with the pedagogy that supports community building to meet the needs of individual students.

Blended learning in nursing pharmacology: elevating cognitive skills, engagement and academic outcomes

Pharmacological education is crucial for healthcare professionals to safely manage medications and reduce errors. Traditional lecture-based learning (LBL) often struggles to address this complexity, whereas newer methods, such as flipped classrooms and problem-based learning, yield mixed results, particularly in pre-clinical contexts, owing to students' limited experience. Our nursing pharmacology course under LBL recorded a high failure rate of 37.8% and marginal passing scores across five cohorts (n = 849 students). An analysis using Bloom's taxonomy revealed significant gaps in higher-order cognitive skills. As a remedy, the course was transformed into a novel blended learning format that integrated question-based learning (QBL) to enhance critical thinking across all cognitive levels. This model blends asynchronous and synchronous learning, is tailored to individual needs in large classes, and fosters continuous, student-centric learning. The redesign markedly decreased the failure rate by approximately 2.8-fold and increased the average grade by 11.8 points among 426 students. It notably improved the pass rates in advanced cognitive categories, such as "Evaluate" and "Create" by 19.0% and 24.2%, respectively. Additionally, the blended course showed increased student engagement, reflecting a dynamic and effective learning environment that significantly elevated participation and academic outcomes at all cognitive levels. This study demonstrated the profound impact of blended learning in pharmacology. By integrating QBL with various teaching methods, it surpasses traditional lecture-based limitations, enhancing engagement and understanding of complex topics by nursing students. Notable improvements in foundational and advanced learning suggest its broader application in health professionals' education, effectively equipping students for clinical pharmacology challenges.

Development and psychometric testing of hybrid education competence instrument for social and health care, and health sciences educators

BACKGROUND

The competencies of educators in social and health care, and health sciences fields have been studied; however, studies related specifically to hybrid (synchronous face-to-face and online) teaching competence are scarce.

AIM

To develop and psychometrically test the hybrid education competence instrument for the purpose of self-assessment of hybrid education competence.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study was conducted to develop and psychometrically test the instrument.

METHODS

The instrument was developed in four phases: (I) establishing the conceptual framework, (II) testing the face and content validity, (III) testing the construct validity, and (IV) testing the internal consistency of the instrument. The conceptual framework was based on studies related to digital pedagogy and hybrid teaching. The face and content validity were tested using an expert panel (n = 12). Pre-testing (n = 10) was performed prior to the cross-sectional data collection (N = 1689, n = 206) which was performed during the autumn of 2022. The data was collected from educators in social and health care, and health sciences fields at six universities and twelve universities of applied sciences in Finland. Construct validity was tested using exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency was tested using Cronbach's alpha.

RESULTS

The newly developed and psychometrically tested instrument contains 46 items across 5 factors: (1) Competence in planning and resourcing hybrid teaching; (2) technological competence in hybrid teaching; (3) interaction competence in hybrid teaching; (4) digital pedagogy competence in hybrid teaching; and (5) ethical competence in hybrid teaching. These five factors explain 70.83 % of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha values ranged from 0.901 to 0.951.

CONCLUSION

The instrument developed in this study can be used to measure the hybrid education competence of educators in social and health care, and health sciences fields. The instrument can also be utilised in an interdisciplinary manner to assess hybrid teaching competence in other educational fields, but also it can be used in the design of continuous learning and training for educators.

The influence of digital learning on health sciences students' competence development- A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Health care experts need high levels of competence, yet there is little evidence on the influence of digital learning on health science students' competence development.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to describe health sciences students' experiences of the development of their competence and the influences of digital learning upon their competence.

DESIGN

A qualitative descriptive research.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 15 health sciences students were interviewed.

METHODS

The data was collected by using individual semi-structured interviews during the spring of 2021. The data was analyzed using content analysis.

RESULTS

The health sciences students felt that their expertise encompasses motivation for future career development, understanding the social and professional influences on their career development, versatile expertise in various aspects of health sciences, and developing competence in different learning environments. The students recognized that digital learning requires the active participation, digitalization is a part of a successful learning environment, and digital learning challenges social interactions. The students' digital learning facilitated competence development, which broadened their understanding of skills relevant to health sciences; however, these benefits could only be obtained when including adequate support.

CONCLUSIONS

The results hold social value for the development of health sciences education as policy-makers can use the presented information to develop high-quality, digital learning procedures.

Nursing Students’ Perceived Learning Outcomes, Motivation to Learn and Grade Achieved in a Digital Blended Learning Course: A Norwegian Cross-Sectional Study

The COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions to move online, and it is important to understand how students perceive learning in a digital learning environment. We aimed to investigate students’ perceived learning outcomes in a digital learning environment and associations between perceived learning outcomes and grades achieved. An anonymous electronic survey was used (n = 230, response rate 34%). A significant linear relationship between overall perceived learning outcome and grade achieved was found (B 0.644, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.77). Of the different learning activities, attending digital seminars were positively associated with grades (B 0.163, 95% CI 0.002 to 0.32). In particular, participating in voluntary colloquium group (B 0.144, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.26) and motivation to learn (B 0.265, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.41) predicted the students’ grades. Intrinsic motivation was positively associated with grades (B 0.285, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.45), and extrinsic motivation was negatively associated with grades (B-0.213, 95% CI-0.35 to -0.07). Nursing students’ perceived learning outcomes and grades were positively associated. Of the different learning activities, attending digital seminars predicted higher grades. Additionally, attending colloquium groups and being motivated to learn predicted higher grades, while high extrinsic motivation was associated with lower grades.

A Hybrid Spherical Fuzzy MCDM Approach to Prioritize Governmental Intervention Strategies against the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study from Vietnam

The unprecedented coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is fluctuating worldwide. Since the COVID-19 epidemic has a negative impact on all countries and has become a significant threat, it is necessary to determine the most effective strategy for governments by considering a variety of criteria; however, few studies in the literature can assist governments in this topic. Selective governmental intervention during the COVID-19 outbreak is considered a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) problem under a vague and uncertain environment when governments and medical communities adjust their priorities in response to rising issues and the efficacy of interventions applied in various nations. In this study, a novel hybrid Spherical Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (SF-AHP) and Fuzzy Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS-F) model is proposed to help stakeholders such as governors and policymakers to prioritize governmental interventions for dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. The SF-AHP is implemented to measure the significance of the criteria, while the WASPAS-F approach is deployed to rank intervention alternatives. An empirical case study is conducted in Vietnam. From the SF-AHP findings, the criteria of “effectiveness in preventing the spread of COVID-19”, “ease of implementation”, and “high acceptability to citizens” were recognized as the most important criteria. As for the ranking of strategies, “vaccinations”, “enhanced control of the country’s health resources”, “common health testing”, “formation of an emergency response team”, and “quarantining patients and those suspected of infection” are the top five strategies. Aside from that, the robustness of the approach was tested by performing a comparative analysis. The results illustrate that the applied methods reach the general best strategy rankings. The applied methodology and its analysis will provide insight to authorities for fighting against the severe pandemic in the long run. It may aid in solving many complicated challenges in government strategy selection and assessment. It is also a flexible design model for considering the evaluation criteria. Finally, this research provides valuable guidance for policymakers in other nations.

Digital health communication and health literacy in times of COVID-19. Planning and implementation of a special course of study in health promotion and prevention

As a result of the corona pandemic, the amount of digital health information has increased substantially. As the quantity and diversity of information increased, so does the need for evidence based and reliable health information. In the special course of study "Health Communication", students of the Bachelors program "Health Promotion" at Fulda University of Applied Sciences are enabled to develop and disseminate evidence-based health information and preventive messages that meet the demands of the target group. Due to the corona-related university closure, the module "Digital Health Communication" was realized in a digital format during the summer semester 2020. In order to activate students and promote teamwork, the study course used the approach of problem-based and research-based learning. Moreover, the course concept is based on a variety of methods, including MS Teams with screencasts, videos, synchronous teaching sessions, gamified audience response systems, the online Inverted Classroom Model and a final oral examination. Despite various challenges such as the short planning period or the necessary restructuring of a part previously planned as "en bloc", the experiences are mostly positive. Among other things, the use of MS Teams as an integrated learning, collaboration and communication platform has proven to be useful. In the students' feedback, the broad use of methods, the gamification elements and the flexibility of the lecturers are evaluated positively.