Promoting quality online education courses can be support by nursing through following guidelines that are established for the delivery of distance education through government bodies that regulate quality indicators. Examples would be the Institute for Higher Education Policy and the Sloan Consortium Education Policy. Accrediting agencies expect online courses and program to provide learners with access to learning experiences that achieve the same learning outcome as traditional courses. The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) has established standards for distance education programs with expectation that the learner outcome be evaluated equally with traditional face-to-face courses (Billings, 2012). The responsibility of leaders is to guide needed change to both organization culture and technology by paying attention to individual and collective needs. Guiding nurse leaders to facilitate changes will enable organizational members to collaborate in new ways. Nurse will have insite to changing the organization language and culture to shape the implementation of new technologies including collaborative efforts in distance education to facilitate patient safety, nurse satisfaction, positive impact on patient outcome, lowering training costs, and higher commitment/buy-in that leads to greater productivity (ANA, 2015).
The online instructor can offer encouragement and make intentional efforts to communicate to the student by positive messages to the individual and to the group as a whole. Providing constructive feedback can promote positive messages and maintain an overall positive moral in the class. The instructor will strive to listen and understand the learner’s frustration by providing productive feedback. Often time the instructor takes on a role as a coach and will help the learner to develop confidence and high levels of competence. Requiring students to have a minimum level of high speed Internet connection is anther strategy to deploy the latest technology for student to successfully complete a significant portion of course material through distance instruction (Poyraz, 2013).
Specific instructions with clear examples help support distance learning. The learner understands the expectations required by the design delivery of course material prior to the start of the program with specific timeframe in place to meet the academic requirements. The learner anticipates group projects with active involvement in collaborative groups to maintain positive group participation. A student is clearly given specific instruction through direct communication that helps facilitate productive group participation with positive outcomes (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012).
Strategies proven to manage effectively online communication are providing a set of instructions for faculty to respond to inquiries in a given time frame. Faculty will establish student electronic file folders to retain course communication, use separate e-mail for personal correspondence, and establish office hours. Faculty must block out a certain schedule amount of time each week that is devoted to the online course (Rashid & Rashid, 2012).
Moore suggests that the “five Cs” are necessary to accomplish smooth delivery of distance learning programs. They are as follows:
• Communicate effectively with a willingness and ability to succeed
• Competence in handling technical needs and instructional assistance
• Control of events that help build student confidence
• Caring demonstrated by the student for success and achievement
• Continuity of student role from one semester to the next (Billing, 2012)
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