The document summarizes an analysis of the interface design of online nursing courses. It discusses several functional definitions related to course design, including coherence validity, flow, and being designed for the online medium. It then analyzes the courses' coherence and consistency, content management, engagement of students, and curriculum design. Overall, it finds that while individual courses have good coherence, there is a lack of consistency across the system of courses and room for improvement in leveraging the advantages of online learning.

1. WI
TECNE
-­‐
Year
Five
Conference
eLeaning
in
Nursing
Interface
Design
Analysis
of
Online
Nursing
Courses
Eric
B.
Bauman,
PhD,
RN
David
W.
Simkins,
MS
©Bauman
&
Simkins
2011
All
Rights
Reserved
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2. Disclosures/Conflict
of
Interest
&
Professional
AffiliaQons
Eric
B.
Bauman,
RN,
PhD
Managing
Member
–
Clinical
Playground,
LLC
Society
for
SimulaQon
in
Healthcare
(SSH)
InternaQonal
Nursing
Assoc.
for
Clinical
Learning
and
SimulaQon
(INACSL)
Games+Learning+Society
David
W.
Simkins,
MS
David
W.
Simkins,
LLC
Games+Learning+Society
Doctoral
Candidate
University
of
Wisconsin
–
Madison,
School
of
EducaQon
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

3. eLearning
Course
Assessment

4. FuncQonal
DefiniQons
• Coherence
Validity:
refers
to
whether
or
not
the
evaluaQon
of
student
performance
appears
to
be
based
on
informaQon
presented
in
the
online
course.
In
other
words
does
it
appear
that
student
evaluaQon
flows
from
mastery
of
course
content.

5. FuncQonal
DefiniQons
• Flow:
Represents
the
intuiQve
or
logical
nature
of
the
transiQon
of
one
topic
to
another
topic.

6. FuncQonal
DefiniQons
• Designed
for
online
Medium:
Good/Poor
Design
for
online
medium
–
versus
inherent
challenges
of
distance
educaQon.

7. Coherence
and
Consistency
• In
general
there
is
an
increased
expectaQon
for
coherence
and
consistency
for
online
courses,
parQcularly
in
those
instances
that
have
been
or
are
a`empQng
to
be
organized
to
represent
a
“brand”.

8. Coherence
and
Consistency
• The
courses
evaluated
are
“templated”
within
D2L
in
terms
of
the
tools
offered
by
the
soeware.
This
is
parQcularly
true
in
the
first
two
secQons
of
each
course
and
in
how
courses
are
laid
out
in
the
lee
hand
navigaQon
tool

10. Coherence
and
Consistency
• The
courses
however
look
and
feel
very
different
from
each
other.
There
appears
to
be
a
lack
of
internal
consistency
across
the
cadre
of
courses
represenQng
the
system
“brand”.
h`p://www.squidoo.com/puppies-­‐ki`ens-­‐thinking

11. Coherence
and
Consistency

12. Coherence
and
Consistency
• Each
course
has
good
Coherence
Validity
within
individual
courses.
However,
this
was
not
consistent
across
the
cadre
of
courses.

15. Content
Management
• Access
to
course
content
is
not
consistent
and
at
Qmes
very
challenging
across
courses.
A
common
access
point
and
locaQon
for
all
e-­‐
materials
would
be
helpful

16. Content
Management
• Each
course
did
a
good
job
of
sehng
in-­‐course
expectaQons,
but
expectaQons
for
courses
were
not
consistent
across
the
cadre
of
courses
or
the
system
“brand”.

17. Content
Management
• The
high
level
structure
of
the
courses
introduces
the
student
to
each
course
in
a
consistent
manner
(lee
hand
navigaQon).

18. Content
Management
• The
first
two
secQons
of
the
courses
serve
as
reference
guides
on
how
to
use
D2L.
It
is
helpful
that
the
first
two
secQons
remain
constant
throughout
the
courses.
It
might
be
helpful
to
include
a
statement
for
learners
poinQng
out
that
these
secQons
remain
constant
throughout
the
courses.

19. Engagement
• From
individual
learner
perspecQve
it
was
easy
to
engage
the
course.

20. Engagement
• There
were
required
group
acQviQes.
However,
in
general
the
group
acQviQes
ask
students
to
engage
in
a
group
discussion,
but
do
not
ask
them
to
collaborate
in
a
way
that
works
towards
consensus.
h`p://www.ntrf.org/arQcles/arQcle_detail.php?PRKey=13

21. Engagement
• InteracQon
with
assignments
should
always
be
translaQonal.
In
other
words
assignments
today
should
inform
future
pracQce.
Assignments
should
help
learner
understand
the
path
to
mastery.
h`p://evilspeculator.com/?p=7196

22. Engagement
• Group
acQviQes
in
general
did
not
drive
professional
acculturaQon
h`p://www.icims.com/blog/category/Employee-­‐Referral-­‐Programs.aspx

23. Curriculum
• There
is
an
inherent
challenge
to
a`ending
to
academic
freedom
(individual
Professors
and
Campuses)
while
also
recognizing
that
these
courses
represent
a
UW
System
Brand.

24. Curriculum
• The
most
successful
courses
outlined
objecQves
clearly
and
concisely.
The
best
examples
outlined
objecQves
in
the
syllabus
secQon
and
again
for
each
secQon/lesson.

25. Curriculum
• All
of
the
five
courses
reviewed
are
currently
3-­‐credit
courses.
However,
workload
across
courses
seemed
inconsistent.
www.mindgenious.com

26. Curriculum
• Content
for
courses
did
not
always
seem
to
leverage
advantages
of
online
learning
environments.
New
World
Clinic
&
Virtual
Heroes

27. Curriculum
• It
would
helpful
for
learners
if
the
method
of
grading
was
consistent
across
all
courses.
In
cases
where
this
is
not
possible
a
be`er
explanaQon
of
the
grading
procedures
would
be
helpful.

28. Overall…
• Overall
the
courses
were
found
to
be
well
produced
when
evaluated
individually,
but
there
were
opportuniQes
for
improvement
in
areas
such
as
consistent
branding,
consistent
workload
expectaQons
across
the
courses,
and
universal
access
to
course
materials.

29. References
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E.
(2007).
High
fidelity
simulaQon
in
healthcare.
Ph.D.
dissertaQon,
The
University
of
Wisconsin
–
Madison,
United
States.
DissertaQons
&
Theses
@
CIC
InsQtuQons
database.
(PublicaQon
no.
AAT
3294196
ISBN:
9780549383109
ProQuest
document
ID:
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Bauman,
E.
(2010).
Virtual
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30. Contact
InformaQon
Eric
B.
Bauman,
PhD,
RN
ebauman@clinicalplayground.com
David
W.
Simkins,
MS
dwsimkins@gmail.com
R.
Kyle