title: Early student outcomes associated with a virtual community for learning.
abstract: Virtual communities represent a new and innovative approach to learning within nursing education. Because this is an emerging trend, little is known about the use of virtual communities and the impact on students and their learning. This article reports the results of a study designed to assess the initial perceived benefits of using a virtual community known as The Neighborhood in a single undergraduate baccalaureate nursing program during the first few years following development. Results showed greater benefits reported among underrepresented minority students and students who expected to receive lower than a course grade of A. In addition, findings suggest the strength of perceived benefits increases over time among all learners. These findings merely scratch the surface of additional work needed in this area.
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA. jgiddens@salud.unm.edu
authors.forename: Jean Foret
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Giddens
authors.forename: Geoff
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shuster
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Roehrig
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000193:education*; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012381:Role Playing; D015206:Southwestern United States; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014584:User-Computer Interface