STUDY SKILLS FOR NURSING

Study Skills for Nursing

Study Skills for Nursing

Introduction

The learning environments developing in private homes or houses are more diverse and potentially more powerful than ever before as living places embrace a range of new technologies and services to address students' needs. Assembling materials to facilitate medical education has been the mainstay of internet libraries for generations, and it is no surprise that such work continues to animate much of what nurses do in their homes.

In early stages of study, library-led information literacy (IL) initiatives stressed information content and certain required skills, such as basic computer operation, database searching, and Internet research. Accessing, capturing, and manipulating information to support an argument or solve a problem were central to the process (Thorne, 1993). Different books, articles, and newspapers covered the successes and inadequacies of various nursing programmes, training, exercises, and research. Considerable discussion and debate focused on whether study skills should be a 'stand alone' course or whether the skills should be incorporated into regular academic disciplines. In time, however, study skills training came to be considered inadequate.

Skills in accessing information for academic purposes do not necessarily transfer easily to the more specific problems of the professions and workplace. Mastery of online searching techniques does not automatically ensure that an individual understands 'how to learn' and adapt to the fast-changing universe of telecommunications, computers, and the Internet. Individual skills likewise do not guarantee the ability to work in groups, teams, and situations requiring effective collaboration. Successful resolution of these matters required a different perspective.

Internet

In recent years, the Internet has influenced nursing educational system in a number of informal and formal ways. Professional nurses and students increasingly utilise the Internet to communicate with one another, to research and prepare classroom assignments, and to schedule extracurricular activities, as well as for a variety of other purposes. Nursing schools have used the Internet for online instruction for both regular and non-traditional students, as well as for other purposes that include school administration and teacher training.

Internet access can be differentiated according to the location of use (Schofield & Davidson, 2002). Students like me access the Internet principally from home; other popular options are friends' homes, public libraries, and community centres. In 2009, nearly all nursing schools and 93% of classrooms had Internet access; in comparison, three out of four homes were connected to the Internet. Despite the greater prevalence of Internet access in schools, surveys show that children and adolescents are more likely to access the Internet from home.

Library and Education

Libraries in UK have long played a key role in supporting the work of individual scholars drawing on book collections and related materials to advance scholarly pursuits. More recently, libraries have come to support the activities of learning communities, broadly constituted, whether such communities are in a city or town, a college or university, or a school or business. Over the past decade, libraries have begun to evolve into multipurpose settings for diverse learners, often spurred by new technologies and new patron ...