Using blogs for facilitating and connecting nurse educator candidates

: Evridiki Papastavrou, Lotta Hamari, Pilar Fuster, Natalja Istomina, Leena Salminen

Publisher: CHURCHILL LIVINGSTONE

: 2016

: Nurse Education Today

: NURSE EDUCATION TODAY

: NURS EDUC TODAY

: 45

: 35

: 41

: 7

: 0260-6917

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2016.06.004

Background: Social media includes blog applications, which can be used as online journals or diaries that encourages interaction and collaboration within an online community. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the use of blog writing as learning journals during a short course for nurse educator candidates about social media.Method: A qualitative descriptive design was used. The participants were nurses, Bachelor, Master's and Doctoral students who intended to follow a career in education (N = 24, female n = 21, male n = 3, Mean age 37) from four different countries of the European Union. The blogs written during the course were used as a data collection method and the data was analyzed with qualitative content analysis.Results: A total of 260 blogger posts and 372 peer comments were analyzed. Four main categories emerged from the analysis: 1) Course content, new knowledge, and changed views, 2) Reflection and critical thinking, 3) Encouraging and peer support and 4) Expressing feelings, experiences, and expectations.Conclusion: Blogs are potential learning spaces in short courses in nurse educator education, especially in sharing feelings and experiences, enhancing an encouraging atmosphere, critical thinking, and reflection. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.