Introducing Moodle as a New Path for Nursing Education: Students' Perception, Experience and Barriers

Abstract

Background: Moodle represents one of the most widely used open-source e-learning software platforms in higher education. It enables educators to create online courses, encourage interaction and collaborative construction of learning content. It has many capabilities such as interaction, feedback, conversation and networking. Aim: To explore students' perception, experience and barriers towards using Moodle as a new path for nursing education. Research design: The study has a descriptive exploratory research design. Sample: The study included a convenience sample of 221 first level nursing students in Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University. Tool: Questionnaires regarding students’ perceptions, experience, motivation and barriers were completed at the end of the second semester. Results: The majority of the studied students had computer with internet availability. Less than half of students (42%) agreed with the easier and effectiveness of Moodle as a teaching method. The students who had a good perception to Moodle were 39.8% with mean score 66.06. Conclusion: Students' perception affected by their experience and motivation. Recommendations: Enhancing the use of Moodle by lecturers, the abilities of students in the use of practical resources should be used in the use of the functions of Moodle. The role of the Lecturers and the role of technology should be balanced in a way that students will benefit from both at the highest degree.