Exploring nurse educators' views of experiential learning: a pilot study

Abstract

The 1982 syllabus of training for psychiatric nurse students recommended the use of experiential learning methods. This paper describes a pilot study aimed at identifying nurse educator's views of experiential learning. Twelve nurse educators were interviewed and the method of content analysis was used to interpret the data emerging out of the transcripts of those interviews. Various features were noted including: opinions over how ‘experiential learning’ was to be defined; the fact that many educators feel that students find experiential learning methods uncomfortable or threatening, and difficulty in evaluating experiential learning activities. The findings, although tentative, may have implications for the future training of nurse educators and for the future planning and practice of experiential learning in nurse education.