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ABSTRACT
With the development and use of new strategies, practices, applications, and resources in technology, the teaching and learning context is shifting. Nurse educators are challenged to create instructional strategies that appeal to the newer generation of students and have the potential to enhance learning. Effective learning programs for these students require new digital communication skills, new pedagogies, and new practices. Nursing students should not be seeking the right answer as much as they should be seeking appropriate information and then developing approaches to issues or resolutions for problems. The focus of the teaching and learning context is shifting from the individual to the group, with the purpose of constructing new knowledge from available information. This article discusses the value of WebQuest activities as inquiry-oriented strategies and the process of adapting the WebQuest format for the development of a strategy called NursingQuest.
With the development and use of new strategies, practices, applications, and resources in technology, the teaching and learning context is shifting. According to Wagner (2005):
From toddlers to seniors, people are increasingly connected and are digitally communicating with each other in ways that would have been impossible to imagine only a few years ago. (p. 42)
The potential for technology to contribute to nursing education depends on the design and implementation of new instructional and assessment strategies.
Most of the students currently applying to nursing education programs are considered members of the Millennial Generation (i.e., individuals born in or after 1982). These students typically prefer teamwork to competitiveness, are comfortable with experiential activities, and make extensive use of technology (Oblinger, 2003). The challenge for nurse educators is to create instructional strategies that appeal to these students and make use of technological capabilities; effective educational programs will require new digital communication skills, new pedagogies, and new practices (Maltz, DeBlois, & the EDUCAUSE Current Issues Committee, 2005).
This article discusses the value of WebQuest activities as inquiryoriented strategies and the process of adapting the WebQuest format for the development of an assessment strategy called NursingQuest. A link to the NursingQuest assessment strategy is provided.
Technology and Teaching Environments
The introduction of technology and the Internet into classrooms has been the most important change in the field of education in the past 100 years. According...