To Blog or Not to Blog: What Do Nursing Faculty Think?

BACKGROUND: Nurse educators find themselves tasked with developing content that both is aesthetically appealing and engages today's technological learners while empowering them to apply their knowledge in clinical and classroom settings. Students engaging with social networking systems reported increased satisfaction with collaborative peer-to-peer learning experiences, socialization, self-reflection, peer critique, problem-solving skills, collation of evidence-based resources, and instructor performance.

METHOD: This project included identifying the needs of nursing faculty regarding the use of blogging in their courses and barriers faced by faculty with implementing blogging in nursing curricula. A convenience sampling method was used, with surveys e-mailed to 49 schools of nursing in Illinois and 38 in Ontario.

RESULTS: One hundred twenty-two surveys were completed: 78 in Illinois and 44 in Ontario. Results suggest there are many pedagogical, philosophical, and ethical issues associated with using blogging and technology in nursing education.

CONCLUSION: Although significant challenges exist, blogging and technology can be useful collaborative learning tools. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(12):683-689.].