Learning Styles of Registered Nurses Enrolled in an Online Nursing Program

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Background

Technological advances assist in the proliferation of online nursing programs which meet the needs of the working nurse. Understanding online learning styles permits universities to adequately address the educational needs of the professional nurse returning for an advanced degree.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to describe the learning styles of registered nurses (RNs) enrolled in an online master's nursing program or RN–bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) program.

Method

A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used. Kolb's learning style inventory (Version 3.1) was completed by 217 RNs enrolled in online courses at a Southeastern university. Descriptive statistical procedures were used for analysis.

Discussion

Thirty-one percent of the nurses were accommodators, 20% were assimilators, 19% were convergers, and 20% were divergers. Accommodators desire hand-on experiences, carrying out plans and tasks and using an intuitive trial-and-error approach to problem solving.

Conclusions

The learning styles of the RNs were similar to the BSN students in traditional classroom settings. Despite their learning style, nurses felt that the online program met their needs. Implementing the technological innovations in nursing education requires the understanding of the hands-on learning of the RN so that the development of the online courses will satisfactorily meet the needs of the nurses who have chosen an online program.

Section snippets

Literature Review

A review of the education and nursing empirical and theoretical literature related to online learning was conducted. There is no research describing or exploring the learning styles of RNs enrolled in online nursing programs. Research describing the learning styles of the traditional baccalaureate nursing student is prevalent. RNs return to school either to complete their bachelor's degree or to enter a master's program for an advanced practice nursing role (nurse practitioner, clinical nurse

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to explore the learning styles of RNs enrolled in either an online RN–BSN program or an online master's program. The research question was, What is the learning style of nurses enrolled in an online nursing program using LSI Version 3.1 (LSI3.1)? LSI3.1 is the online version of Kolb's LSI that has 12 questions.

Results

Descriptive statistical procedures using SPSS Version 15.0 (Chicago, IL) were performed. The predominant learning style among the 217 RNs enrolled in online nursing courses was accommodator. Thirty-one percent of the nurses were accommodators, 20% were assimilators, 19% were convergers, and 20% were divergers. Using cross-tabulation, the accommodator learning style was predominant for nurses who had taken less than three online course or more than seven online courses. When years of nursing

Discussion

The predominant learning style of the nurses in an online nursing program was accommodator, the feeler, hands-on person who likes new experiences and can adapt to changing circumstances (Kolb, 1984). The learning styles of the RNs were similar to the BSN students in the traditional classroom settings, as reflected by the research studies in 1980s (DeCoux, 1990). Rassool and Rawaf (2007) concluded in their literature review of the learning style research that the predominant learning styles for

Conclusion

Understanding the learning styles of nurses returning to complete bachelor or master's degrees is a factor to consider when developing online nursing curricula and programs. It appears that all four of Kolb's learning styles exist among nurses in an online program, with the predominant learning style being the accommodator. This is similar to the findings in samples of undergraduate nursing students. Nurses who return to school to complete a bachelor or master's degree are motivated to be

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