Mobile Learning Initiatives in Nursing Education

Abstract

Mobile learning is a very exciting approach to learning that has the possibility of changing nursing education, providing learning to nurses when and where they need it and in a manner that will achieve positive learning outcomes. Coming from an apprenticeship model in the military, nurses have traditionally learned by seeing and then doing. Mobile learning through means such as YouTube and augmented reality offers the best of this traditional way of learning combined with time- and cost-efficient means of technology use and greater theoretical knowledge. Reaching nurses in rural and isolated communities is also possible through these means. This is achieved through the use of SMS and online learning that is able to be used at a time and place suitable for the nurse, enabling them to include learning within their lives in a way that suits them. Many isolated trials have occurred in nursing education over the years, starting with the use of PDAs, and although many have shown success, there is not a great deal of research that has been conducted in the use of mobile education in nursing. Considering this research was conducted using a grounded theory approach that investigated nurse’s current use of mobile technology and their beliefs around mobile learning. The study also explored how and when nurses are undertaking continuing education, with the discovery of how they personally resource their learning. When looking at trials of mobile learning within nursing education, it is apparent from these trials and the study that nurses are ready for mobile learning and that mobile learning shows great potential as a method for education within the nursing profession.