Growing Trend in Online Education - Research Paper Example

Growing Trend in Online Education Introduction Information Communication Technology (ICT) has transformed the online nursing education. In this type of technology, various technological devices and means are used for sending and receiving information. Previously, computers were primarily seen as a way to receive and send information from a distant location. In this type of communication exchange, the Internet was the main medium working between computers besides facilitating the process of communication between the users. However, with the multiple innovations and changes in the field of ICT, the role and usage of computers started to decline and more focus was given to those devices which were more capable of ensuring communication between more than two individuals. For example, it was also intent that, in the clinical advancement, there should be electronic mechanism between patient, doctor, nurse and other medical staff who was directly or indirectly connected with the health of the patient. As a result of such expectations, the recent advancement in the shape of online education has not only facilitated the electronic communication between nursing students and health teaching hospitals facilities but also increased an opportunity for studying and learning through using the medium of the Internet. Overall, this transformation has considerably increased opportunities for online nursing learning and also enabled to adjust their routine study schedule as they want to. In the following parts of this paper, first description about online education has been provided. Moreover, this part also elaborates on the general significance of online education. Subsequently, Significance of online education for nursing students has also been provided. After that part, merits of online education has been included in which accessibility and affordability features have been mainly emphasized and elaborated as well. It is followed by demerits of online education part in which education quality and lack of concentration have been detailed. Before the conclusion part, the significance of magnet status for hospitals and the nursing students has been included. Trend in online education Online education is growing across the world (Shelton and Saltsman, 2005.p.146). Online education is defined as an education mechanism in which information communication technology is used for the purpose of studying different subjects. Fundamentally, there are three different activities used in the online education system: online education provider, medium and online education receivers (students). In addition, online education primarily relies on the external factors such as technology and societal requirements (Regina and Mitchell, 2010. p. 2).The online education providers are the academic institutions who provide education about the related subjects and all the relevant material is available online. For uploading the material online, the online education provider uses different mediums for sending the academic material. For example, recorded lecturers, virtual class rooms and virtual online sessions about questions and answers are some of the mediums used for sending the required and relevant academic material to the students. In other words, nothing has substantially changed in teaching process except for the medium (the Internet). It is the prime role of the Internet that has considerably changed the entire learning environment and has considerably made physical boundaries irrelevant because technology has provided those devices and methods through which transformation of data and academic material from one place to another has become easier than ever before. Health care settings: Significance of online education for nursing students Online education has substantial importance especially for nursing students. Nursing is a very challenging profession when it is compared with the other professions. In this field, proper and full time care for patients is provided in which full concentration and commitment is given to the profession requirements. In a few words, it can be said that the field of nursing looks after human life when it requires medical attention and proper health care facility. As there are no few chances of errors in this field, the nurses remain highly careful while discharging their professional duties. Sometimes, nurses do not avoid sacrificing their personal and social life for satisfying the objectives of the field of nursing. Under this situation, it is very challenging to simultaneously maintain their nursing education along with providing nursing services to health care facilities. However, the opportunity in the shape of online education has considerably enabled nursing students to maintain both nursing services and nursing education as well. If they avail and maintain both tasks professionally and properly, they become in a position to provide quality health services because after receiving higher nursing degree through online education they will have higher health care skills, expertise sufficient enough to provide professional health services. Management Techniques Hospital management should encourage and support the online education for nursing students because it will be in favor of both nursing students and hospital management as well. Online education is easily accessible through the use of the Internet. In the conventional learning method, students are required to appear physically at an academic institution with a specified period of time. For some students, the distance of the academic institution is so far away that they consume 2 or more hours in travel before reaching the academic institution. The reason for including 2 hour travel is that the issues such as traffic jams, signals and other travel problems take considerable time. Additionally, it has also been seen that the business of class starts an exact time even if some students have not arrived on time, the teacher does not wait for it and start teaching. When such factors are taken into account especially for the nursing students, it is almost impossible for them to cope up with the nursing education requirements and nursing services. As a result, the provision of online education for the nursing student is ideal due to its nature and accessibility as well. Globally, cost of education is substantially rising. This problem discourages many nursing students for pursuing higher degree in their field of choice. And this discouragement further decreases their chances of career growth in their field and this impact brings a number of ramifications for the nursing students. However, thanks to the online education, the cost of education has somewhat affordable for many students because the institutions, who provide the online education, do not incur higher amount of cost which is paid to teachers. Simply, the online education providers record the lectures and they upload them to the relevant portal and the registered online students are given user name and password to access the uploaded material and obtain understanding about subject-related information. Ethical dilemmas Online education is not a perfect learning recipe. For example, if a student does not understand a particular jargon or a topic in the uploaded lecture and the related lecturer is also not appropriately addressing the question, in that case, the use of online education does not satisfy the requirements of learning through online sources. Additionally, it has been seen that some academic subjects are compatible with the online education system. For example, finance and business subjects are considered to be easier and the mode of online system is capable to obtain its objectives. However, some subjects are highly complex in which deep and close supervision and support is required and without such assistance, students find it hard to obtain the required results. For example, subjects pertaining to space technology, robotics and informatics are considerably challenging. Thereby, the source of online education may not be appropriate to satisfy the related academic objectives. Lack of concentration is another demerit. It has been observed that physical appearance in class room provides an opportunity to feel the sense of active participation in the class room and this sense increases more learning chances because face to face interaction and cross questioning in the class-based environment are some of those factors that not only increase the subject related understanding but also provide an opportunity to consume minimum time for learning or grasping any topic. Moreover, if a student finds it hard to understand topic through the use of online education, there would be chances that the student may not be able to perform better in examinations and the objective of learning may be compromised. . Recommendations for trend: Nursing advanced degrees for magnet status Magnet status represents ‘gold standard’ for nursing excellence (UC Davis Medical Centre, 2014). There are a number of benchmarks required before this status and award is given to hospitals. Among other factors, qualifications of practicing nurses and their professional experience in the related specializations are some of those factors that are also considered before awarding this status to any health care facility in the United States of America. If a particular hospital has specific number of highly qualified nurses, the hospital is more likely to receive this status. In other words, hospitals are very keen to hire those nurses who are well qualified and well experienced in their related specialization as they are fully aware of the fact that the services of qualified nurses not only put positive effect on the health care service quality but it also increase a positive perception among patients. Under such circumstances when hospitals prefer to gain the magnet status, the semi-qualified or under-qualified practicing nurses will be more interested to increase their qualification level. For this purpose, the source of online education for the current and potential nursing students will be a way forward for making their dreams come true which will not only benefit to their longer and sustainable nursing career but it will also enable hospitals to apply for the magnet status Summary Online education provides an opportunity to the nursing students. In the traditional learning environment, it is very difficult for the nurses to maintain balance between the nursing services and nursing education as well. However, thanks to the online education, which is easily accessible and affordable as well for the nursing students, the balance between both activities has become possible. In the online education, the students do not require attending physically but they will be provided uploaded lecturers and other academic notes which they can use to understand the particular subject-related topics. However, education quality and lack of concentration are two demerits which raise questions about the validity and usefulness of the online education. The magnet status encourages hospitals to hire well qualified nurses. Through hiring the qualified nurses, the hospitals meet one of the many fundamental requirements for obtaining this status. In other words, the nursing students will have the opportunity to continue studying while performing their nursing services because it is also in favor of hospitals. References Mitchell, R.L.G. (ed.) (2010). Online Education: New Directions for Community Colleges, Number 150. New Jersey, NJ: Wiley. Shelton, K., & Saltsman, G. (2005). An Administrator’s Guide to Online Education. United States: Information Age Publication. UC Davis Medical Centre, (2014). Nursing. Retrieved: https://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/nurse/magnet/faq.html Read More