Student nurses' views of a learning model - a multi-method research study

The aim of this study is to describe students' perceptions of various assignments within a specific learning model. In particular the study focuses on how the students perceived and reacted to the assessment processes used. A learning model was developed in which the learning of nursing theory and practice was integrated with the overall aim of motivating students to integrate their cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills. A multi-methods design was applied using a questionnaire and qualitative interviews. Two hundred and eighty four students were asked to complete the questionnaire. Fifteen of the 252 students who returned the questionnaires were interviewed. The main findings were that the students constructed their own learning depending on how they understood the specific assignment and there was diversity in the students' interpretation of the assignments. They focused on the assignments in accordance to the demands they expected to face as registered nurses and their interpretations of the demands differed between them. The way the individual student understands the paradigm of nursing must therefore be challenged; what does the student intend to achieve and why. Dialogues in which students and teachers share their understandings of the meaning of various aspects of nursing must be emphasised in nursing education.