Abstract:

This study describes effect of a blended e-learning induction programme for new academic staff on contributing towards building community of practice (CoP) in School of Nursing and Midwifery in a Scottish University. Academic identities amongst healthcare professionals are often influenced by their subject specific requirements of nursing practices, higher education teaching regulations, their community specific roles, membership, currently established rules, and stakeholders’ guidance. School’s blended e-learning induction programme is divided into three essential factors of technology affordances: content for providing ongoing e-learning guidance, process for analysing the training needs in orientation to e-learning, and context for sustaining engagement. While a survey gathered the context factor results, both their access hits on the School’s online good practice area for content factor and another e-learning training needs analysis survey results for process factor are also analysed to describe the effect of the induction programme in the academic staff community.

Almost all of the participants have confirmed that the e-learning induction programme contribute towards their professional development in terms of building their self-confidence and self-efficacy. However, some suggests that amount of information they received during the induction was not enough and they were still unsure how to relate some of the information received to their working practices. Their raining needs results demonstrated that e-learning specific software (i.e. social media), VLE tools, multi-media tools, e-research related online tools (learning analytics), mobile devices and website respectively are the most common e-learning development needs for new academics in the School, as opposite other tools (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint). However, online hit counts in e-learning good practice area show that the average hits into online resources from new academics are much lower than the other academics in the School, because enculturation process has taken longer indication a need for continuous interactions to develop their shared repertoire of resources. Besides, blended format of e-learning induction programme, multiple online CoP memberships of new academics in the School and providing immediate response with face-to-face support for e-learning issues as a priority seem to have a reverse impact on accessing the online CoP resources for the new academics. Consequently, lack of staff time and academics knowledge still appear to be the most common initial pressures on e-learning induction programme in the School. To overcome these initial barriers, effective planning for the introductory activities in e-learning induction programme design through providing adequate and ongoing information, effective e-learning training and skills developments, and cultivations in CoP becomes crucial for a successful e-learning induction programme in blended format.

Keywords:

e-learning training, blended e-learning training, e-learning induction programme.