EVALUATING EFFECTIVENESS OF E-RESOURCES RE-PURPOSED FOR EUROPEAN NURSING CURRICULA

Background:
This paper reports on an evaluation of University of Nottingham (UoN) and Catholic University of Valencia (UCV) nursing students’ experiences of using e-resources originally written for a nursing course in Norway and adapted for UK and Spanish students. We explore the acceptability, usability, and effectiveness of the adapted e-resources. The e-resources called e-compendiums were multimedia rich, comprising text, audio, activities and animations. Evaluations were collected from University of Stavanger (UiS) students to provide a comparison with the reuse countries.

Aim
To determine whether e-compendiums developed for one nursing course are appropriate and accepted by European nursing students from other countries by establishing facilitators and barriers to effective learning relating to content, design, amenability to different devices, and implementation.

Method:
A mixed methods approach was adopted. A standardised questionnaire was designed and validated across all three countries (Norway, UK and Spain). Focus groups were conducted in two countries. The student questionnaire captured acceptability, usability, satisfaction and perceived learning. Focus groups further explored issues that arose from the questionnaire.

Results:
E-compendiums were highly rated as helping students by addressing specific gaps in their knowledge, and by reinforcing knowledge around a subject/concept. Responses showed laptops were the preferred device for accessing the e-compendiums in all countries followed by the mobile phone. Respondents strongly agreed or agreed that the e-compendiums were clear and easy to navigate. In addition, the majority of respondents would recommend the resources to other students would like to see them in other modules and intend to reuse the e-compendiums.

Qualitative themes included application and accessibility for practice:
".because I had a placement that was on a cardiac ward, so I used the heart and anatomy and physiology and the cardiovascular disease one before that. And then I also had a community placement, so I used the wound care one and they were really useful before going on it to have some idea like what you need to do and what you need to know about.
I think it's really useful to have because it's so quick and easy. You can have it on your phone. So even though you're using a textbook, it's the kind of thing that you can be sitting at home and just want to have a quick look before you go to bed, or if you're bored and you're sitting somewhere, you thought I may as well read over, do some revision
Some comments illustrated necessity to embed the resources into the curriculum in a more effective manner.
I don’t really know why I've not looked at more. I think it's just because you're busy doing assignments and I was focusing on my elective and just everything else. Because they're not essential to the course, I've not done them.
I think that is the main thing is that because they're not in the curriculum. So for example, we have assignments to do and then we have the exams and then the lectures, e-learning and seminars. It doesn’t feel like looking at them will contribute directly to anything

Conclusion:
Students’ evaluations of e-compendiums originally written for a nursing course in Norway were adapted for use and implemented into nursing curricula in the UK and Spain. The e-compendiums were accepted and evaluated positively even though they were originally designed for a different student population.