An eLearning module is comparable to face-to-face teaching in a nursing human pathophysiology subject

Background: Human pathophysiology is important in undergraduate nursing education to help students develop clinical reasoning skills. Traditionally pathophysiology education in undergraduate nursing is taught face-to-face. However, eLearning in nursing curricula may provide flexible delivery options.

Objective: With increased inclusion of technology enhanced learning in nursing curricula, a hematology eLearning module was evaluated in a pathophysiology subject to determine whether it was comparable to face-to-face learning.

Design: Single-blind randomized pre-test/post-test controlled trial.

Setting: School of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast.

Participants: A total of 271 second-year undergraduate students enrolled in Human Pathophysiology were included in the study. Students were from three bachelor programs: Nursing Science; Paramedic Science; and Clinical Exercise Physiology. Students were randomly allocated to either the experimental group (n = 85) or the control group (n = 186).

Methods: A hematology eLearning module was designed to be self-directed and learner-centered, guided by constructivist learning theories for delivery in the human pathophysiology subject. The experimental "eLearning" group completed the module independently, and the control "face-to-face" group completed equivalent paper-based activities facilitated by a tutor. All students completed a pre-test assessment and two post-test assessments two weeks after the intervention and at the end of the subject.

Results: There was no significant difference in assessment scores between the experimental and control groups, or between nursing and other programs.

Conclusion: eLearning was comparable to face-to-face teaching in this study. We recommend further research to strengthen the links between pathophysiology theory to clinical reasoning skills using eLearning.