Nursing Students Today: Who Are They and What Are Their Learning Preferences?

An exploratory trial exploring the use of a multiple intelligences teaching approach (MITA) for teaching clinical skills to first year undergraduate nursing students

“…This may also be a reflection of how nursing programmes are delivered worldwide as there is an emphasis placed on factual learning and the practical application of this material (Banning 2005;Pettigrew et al 2011). However, it is suggested that nurses need to be encouraged to develop more abstract thinking skills if they are to practice effectively in the complex world of health care.…”

Consumerism and consumer complexity: Implications for university teaching and teaching evaluation

“…Professors with creative, selfexpressive aesthetic oriented teaching styles will meet these students' expectations about novelty in education and technology. For example, significantly more accelerated nursing students valued online chats and problem-based learning when compared with baccalaureate students who valued lectures (Pettigrew et al, 2011). Professors who regard teaching as peripheral to their job descriptions may receive negative evaluations from unique consumer students, and those who are limited by classroom facilities in terms of developing creative and high-technology teaching styles could also encounter negative evaluations from this group due to systemic factors.…”

“…Viewing education as achieving economic advantage may contribute to their belief that simply putting in time is enough to guarantee high marks. For example, significantly more baccalaureate nursing students selected earning an A as more important than retaining content when compared with accelerated students (Pettigrew et al, 2011). Traditional consumers are unlikely to value experimentation or grappling with local or global issues.…”

“…Despite claims that health sciences students, including nursing students, are viewed as a varied group of learners, studies of students' expectations generally incorporate discussions of implications for teaching that refer to students as 'adult learners', and describe teaching approaches that mostly respond to students' similarities rather than highlighting differences (D'Antonio et al, 2010;Davis and Schroder, 2009;Krahe et al, 2010;Pettigrew et al, 2011). In this paper, I argue there are implications for teaching and teaching evaluations arising from responding to students as a homogenous group versus a group holding a variety of consumer preferences for particular kinds of engagement with teachers.…”

“…Theoretical Perspective Dagevos (2005) argued that consumer complexity includes socio-cultural and sociopsychological influences, with expectations shaped by personal needs, past experiences, personalities, and relationships. For example, nursing students with high social needs may have higher expectations for support and relationships with nursing faculty (Pettigrew et al, 2011). Dagevos (2005) places consumers on continua from individualistic to collectivistic and materialistic to non-materialistic.…”