|
The course can be offered in a variety of ways on-line, depending
on the number of students being taught. 12-15 students are
ideal if the instructor is going to respond individually to
each student posting. If larger numbers of students are interested,
and therefore, direct response to every student posting is
not possible, faculty should consider creative ways to assure
student opportunity for discussion and to ensure their own
(faculty) input. We have been able to offer the course to
30 by creating subgroups of students, with assigned leaders
who summarize discussion and case study analyses. This process
not only opens the class up to larger numbers, but creates
a more diverse enrollment, as well.
Web-format is ideal for this end-of-life content as it provides
students with opportunities to consider and carefully frame
their comments to the group, and it also creates an environment
where each student has equal opportunity to enter into discussions.
Students who tend to be less vocal in the conventional classroom
setting have chances to be heard.
Wonderful EOL resources are available, including ELNEC (End
of Life Nursing Education Curriculum). We chose TNEEL (Toolkit
for nursing Education in End-of-Life) to start the course
because it was such a well-developed and user-friendly web
interactive format.
On-line teaching can be a tremendously rewarding and positive
experience. It gives faculty the ability to communicate directly
with each student and to see the dynamics of group discussion/work
unfold in the online format.
On-line teaching allows for flexibility--being able to review
student work, post commentary, guide discussions and evaluate
student performance at times convenient to busy faculty schedules.
Students feel similarly about the facilitative nature of the
on-line format.
|
