Integrating on campus problem based learning and practice based learning: issues and challenges in using computer mediated communication

The Faculty of Nursing, University of Newcastle, Australia, has been keen to initiate strategies that enhance student learning and nursing practice. Two strategies are problem based learning (PBL) and clinical practice. The Faculty has maintained a comparatively high proportion of the undergraduate hours in the clinical setting in times when financial constraints suggest that simulations and on campus laboratory experiences may be less expensive.Increasingly, computer based technologies are becoming sufficiently refined to support the exploration of nursing practice in a non-traditional lecture/tutorial environment. In 1998, a group of faculty members proposed that computer mediated instruction would provide an opportunity for partnership between students, academics and clinicians that would promote more positive outcomes for all and maintain the integrity of the PBL approach. This paper discusses the similarities between problem based and practice based learning and presents the findings of an evaluative study of the implementation of a practice based learning model that uses computer mediated communication to promote integration of practice experiences with the broader goals of the undergraduate curriculum.