Online Education: Engaging a Global Community

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to explore and examine programs of nursing that have successfully implemented distance education using online, hybrid and other unique delivery methods in graduate nursing education, as well as alternative nursing programs.

Significance: The virtual borders between countries have become non-existent and we are charged with making education accessible to all. We live in a diverse learning and educational environment. Our society is increasingly mobile. Distance learning (DL) continues to increase, 6.52% from fall 2011 to fall 2012 (a decrease from fall 2007 to fall 2008 when distance learning grew by 22%) while traditional enrollment decreased by 2.64% (Instructional Technology Council (ITC), 2013). Due to demand for online courses, the ITC has discussed the following trends: student demand for DL continues to grow; there is an urgent need for course quality and design as well as for faculty education; completion rates are narrowing between DL and face-to-face (f2f) students; virtual student services have actually decreased thus there is a fundamental need to increase funding in order to restore and enhance services; Deans, rather than libraries and IT departments, are expected to be responsible for DL more so than previously (Lokken, 2013). Nursing DL programs have unique needs related to State Boards of Nursing and clinical experiences that need further exploration (Gromley and Glazer, 2012).

Method: A literature review of best practices in online education was completed and will be reported in this presentation. In addition, interviews with faculty at several colleges of nursing, as well as other disciplines, were conducted to ascertain both successes and pitfalls and are also reported in this presentation. Diverse educational institutions were examined, including private, research intense, and land grant universities.

Findings and Discussion: Faculty support, IT support, instructional designers, class size, additional resources, and mentorship of both students and faculty were found to be vitally important for the success of online and hybrid courses and programs. Those findings are described and discussed in this presentation, with particular emphasis on diverse learning and teaching needs. Global initiatives will also be discussed.