Online case studies and critical thinking in nursing.

Abstract

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102 p.

Critical thinking is an important nursing education outcome identified by the National League of Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC), the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), and employers of registered nurses. Current data collected by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) shows that 187 schools offer nursing courses by distance education. The increasing number of online courses represents a paradigm change for instructional technology, instructional design, and nursing education. This quantitative study investigated case studies as an instructional strategy in an online collaborative asynchronous discussion to develop critical thinking; results support a positive trend toward critical thinking gains. Ad hoc analyses revealed a relationship between age and critical thinking gains and between concurrent enrollment in a clinical course and critical thinking gains. This study used the Assessment Technologies Institute Critical Thinking Assessment, which has demonstrated reliability and validity in nursing education. Further research in instructional strategies that foster critical thinking gains and ways to measure this are important follow-up studies to facilitate the knowledge in achieving learning outcomes in online learning.