Determining education needs in online learning and learners? opinions: A study of medical workers

This is a qualitative case study aimed to determine the opinion of nurses on distant online learning. According to ALINE (Active Learning In Nursing Education) model (Fay, Selz and Johnson, 2005) which constitutes the conceptual core of the study, the opinions of nurse learners on learning activities, learner-centered approach,, interaction, nursing competency oriented and feedback were taken. The research was conducted in year 2000, X and Y university hospitals in a Central Anatolian city with a population of 557.028. 15 nurses from X university hospital and 5 nurses from Y university hospital, total twenty nurses, volunteered in the research. Research data were gathered between dates 03-26 March 2008 via individual semi-structured face to face interview technique.According to research results; there are seventeen main themes on design, ten main themes on contents, eight main themes on practice, and ten main themes on evaluation were obtained. In distant online learning training, as for design, the nurses basically wanted the training to be appropriate to their working conditions and times, the presentation of lessons with audio-visual methods, easy reach to training instructor, contents and materials and sustainability of them, instant feedback; as for contents, they wanted to be asked about their needs and opinions while preparing the program, the consultancy of expert and experienced nurses. As for practice; nurse learners wanted to make the practices themselves, to gain hand skills and have the chance to practice on patients; as for evaluation, they wanted to have instant feedback, to be able to reach instructor of training, to scatter their feeling of loneliness, to have question-answer opportunity, to establish feeling of trust, to have a chance for testing what they learnt.The general conclusions and suggestions obtained from this research; nurses who are not computer literates in distant online nursing training wanted easy reach and sustainability of training instructor, course contents and course materials, to declare their needs and opinions, the appropriateness of distant online learning environments to their working conditions and times, consultancy of expert nurses, making use of audio visual methods in lessons to ensure a permanence and instant feedback. By enabling the nurses to be computer literates, in distant online environments, whenever and wherever they want, they will be able to reach course materials and instructor, to learn the lessons via audio-visual methods, instant feedback concerning the problems they face with which in turn enable them to have an effective and permanent learning. Within this context, the results and suggestions concerning the research aimed for future will be taken into account during the preparation of distant online nursing training programs and thus the adult learners, nurses, will have a flexible learning environment when they want to continue their education since this program erases problems such as time, place and distance. Also within the framework of the findings obtained from this study, it becomes a necessity to conduct different researches in Turkey on designing distant online nursing training programs, to operate and evaluate these programs. According to the common findings gathered from these studies, in order to furnish nurses with modern and updated knowledge and skills, it is a must to design and develop a universal, flexible and dynamic distant online nursing training program model.