Exploring the Use of Blog Narratives as a Method

The purpose of this research study was to gain insight into the educational experiences of students and graduates of a nurse practitioner (NP) program in Ontario, Canada to inform curriculum evaluation. Participants were asked to provide narratives of their experiences via two separate limited-access blog sites on the program's NP–Education Network. An interpretive qualitative analysis of participant narratives revealed the program is preparing graduates for practice but there are areas for improvement that require attention. From the emerging themes, recommendations are proposed for improving the curriculum of the NP program

A balanced scorecard-based model for evaluating e-learning and conventional pedagogical activities in nursing

The evaluation of e-learning and conventional pedagogical activities in nursing programmes has focused either on a single pedagogical activity or the entire curriculum, and only on students or teachers\u27 perspective. The goal of this study was to design and test a novel approach for evaluation of e-learning and conventional pedagogical activities that considers students\u27, teachers\u27 and managers\u27 perspectives. A case study of the proposed approach was performed at a publicly funded nursing faculty with Slovenian and Italian students from 2009 to 2012. The case study was combined with focus group discussions, interviews, direct observation and survey. The proposed approach allows management to compare the value of different pedagogical activities through the students\u27, teachers\u27 and managers\u27 perspectives. The approach proved useful in the evaluation of pedagogical activities and provided valid arguments for long-term pedagogical process improvemen