Search

Background Application of appropriate teaching and learning strategies is a necessary way of influencing student learning outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore students’ views, perceptions and the effects of these on different teaching and learning approaches. Methods Twenty one nursing students who were exposed to different teaching strategies were selected as a purposive sample for this study. Qualitative analysis of feedback from six individual interviews and two focus groups encompass a rich data set to inform nurse educators about student perceptions regarding impact of teaching approaches on their learning outcomes. Results Participants indicated advantages and disadvantages of each of the teaching strategies and recommended suggestions for improving learning outcomes. The findings also described how a student’s preferred learning strategy impacted on learning outcomes when criteria for surface, deep and strategic approaches were taken into consideration.Conclusions: This research provides evidence for educators on the effects of innovative teaching and learning strategies in nursing education. It also provides preliminary feedback on the extent of achievements on the movement towards national reforms in higher education.

Objectives To describe the attitudes and perceptions toward nursing profession among nursing students at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Hue UMP). Method The mixed method study involved 319 nursing students from first to fourth-year. Quantitative data was collected by using the Attitudinal Scale for Nursing Profession, and participants’ subjective perception of nursing profession was collected by asking participants questions such as: "How do you feel about nursing and nursing profession?" Results The quantitative results showed that the mean score of nursing students’ attitudes toward nursing profession was 148.76 (SD = + 37.29). The average score on satisfaction for nursing profession varies from 40 to 200. The qualitative findings show perceptions classified under 2 emergent themes: 1) A career that requires passion and professionalism 2) High-pressure and a boring career. Conclusion These findings provide a preliminary understanding of nursing students’ attitudes and perceptions toward the nursing profession. The study has implications for both the nursing professors and university: Curricula have to emphasize ways of enhancing student’s positive awareness of the contemporary roles and values of the profession to students. Collaborative studies with other Universities and Colleges will assist in developing stimulus material and learning strategies that will enhance the value of the role of nurses in contemporary Vietnamese health care.

Purpose Learning style differs among students; 4 were identified by David A. Kolb (1984). Learning style identification plays a vital role in enhancing learning performance in response to choice of approaches to engaging students, particularly for Problem-based learning (PBL) methods used in Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy. This research aimed to identify the learning styles of those students responding to PBL packages and investigate relationships between their learning styles and academic performance. Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted nursing students (N=135) who engaged with PBL packages in the subject Fundamental Nursing 3 in the second semester of the academic year 2016-2017. A questionnaire consisted of items on general characteristics, a learning style scale (Kolb LSI 3.1), and details around academic performance. Data were analyzed by using SPSS 22.0 program. Results The findings indicated that the diverging is the descriptor of the preferred learning style of 43.7% nursing students; 24.4% represented the converging style; the accommodating style accounted for 18.5% and assimilating style was 13.3%. Our study had not yet found the effect of learning methods on the academic performance of nursing students (toward Formative result: F=0.872, p=0.235; toward Summative result: F=1.116, p=0.345). Conclusion A majority of nursing students chose the diverging learning style over others but there was no significant difference between academic performance and learning styles. Therefore, teachers should be flexible and use different stimuli for learning in order to attempt to engage learners in stimuli for learning about different situations, irrespective of their preferred style for learning. It is important to provide optimal learning environments for most students.