The opinions of nursing students regarding the first implementation of distance education

Abstract

With rapid developments being made in science and technology, there is also an increasing need for different educational methods. Distance education allows increased access to education and more flexibility for the students. This descriptive study was conducted to establish the opinions of nursing students about distance education being adopted for the first time. The study comprised 261 nursing students, who were applied a data collection form in class. Of these students, 55.6% stated that they had problems while taking courses through distance education, 83.1% stated that it was not beneficial, 90.8% stated that distance education could not be used for applied vocational courses. It was found the mean scale scores were lower for the students who thought that distance education was not beneficial, who would like to take these courses through formal education and who believed that the applied vocational courses could not be provided through distance education. The students had difficulties in accessing the internet during the courses. The students' attitudes towards distance education were at moderate level and the negative conditions adversely affected the students' opinions. In addition, the majority of the students thought that the vocational courses could not be made through distance education, and this is considered to be a positive finding. Keywords: Nursing education, nursing student, simulation. Keywords: Distance education; nursing students; nursing education