Nursing students' use of collaborative computer technology to create family and community assessment instruments

Undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a community health nursing clinical course collaboratively designed their own family or community assessment instrument using innovative computer technology. Student perceptions of using an instrument they designed and the effects of technology on the group process were evaluated across four groups. Overall, students felt an enhanced sense of ownership of the jointly developed product. Additionally, they perceived that the computer-assisted process enabled a more positive group experience compared with past group work that did not use technology. The learning experiences of the four groups of students are analyzed and discussed in this article.