TY - JOUR
T1 - Planning for information technology key skills in nurse education
AU - Sinclair, Marlene
AU - Gardner, John
PY - 1999/1/1
Y1 - 1999/1/1
N2 - New recruits to courses in nursing, midwifery and health visiting come from a wide range of educational backgrounds and it is reasonable to expect that this diversity will also be reflected in the range of their experience and competence with information technology (IT). Accommodating such variety can make the planning of appropriate training to enhance and develop their IT skills difficult. In order to explore the likely extent of diversity in IT experience and skills in today's recruits, the project reported here examined the competence, attitudes and previous IT training of two consecutive cohorts of new entrants to a higher diploma programme. The surveys add weight to the view that nurse educators do face a considerable diversity in new students' competence and experience with IT. Further analysis has also shown that subgroups of the cohorts, characterized by their age, gender, education or previous IT training, differed significantly in a 'knowledge of computers' score but not in their attitudes to IT. Arising from the results, the paper argues that, in seeking to develop a consistent level of IT literacy, core IT competence should be identified and all courses should have the clear objective of raising students' confidence in using computers.
AB - New recruits to courses in nursing, midwifery and health visiting come from a wide range of educational backgrounds and it is reasonable to expect that this diversity will also be reflected in the range of their experience and competence with information technology (IT). Accommodating such variety can make the planning of appropriate training to enhance and develop their IT skills difficult. In order to explore the likely extent of diversity in IT experience and skills in today's recruits, the project reported here examined the competence, attitudes and previous IT training of two consecutive cohorts of new entrants to a higher diploma programme. The surveys add weight to the view that nurse educators do face a considerable diversity in new students' competence and experience with IT. Further analysis has also shown that subgroups of the cohorts, characterized by their age, gender, education or previous IT training, differed significantly in a 'knowledge of computers' score but not in their attitudes to IT. Arising from the results, the paper argues that, in seeking to develop a consistent level of IT literacy, core IT competence should be identified and all courses should have the clear objective of raising students' confidence in using computers.
KW - Attitudes to IT
KW - IT competence
KW - IT experience
KW - New entrants
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0033258089&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1046/j.1365-2648.1999.01218.x
DO - 10.1046/j.1365-2648.1999.01218.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 10583656
AN - SCOPUS:0033258089
VL - 30
SP - 1441
EP - 1450
JO - Journal of Advanced Nursing
JF - Journal of Advanced Nursing
SN - 0309-2402
IS - 6
ER -