Teaching and learning in a virtual environment

nursing students' attitude

Abstract

To assess a hypermedia system as a teaching strategy, learning in a virtual environment, and nursing undergraduate students' attitudes toward teaching about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in an online environment. This work was a quasi-experimental study, before-and-after, conducted with 28 undergraduate nursing students from a public university in the northeastern region of Brazil. The participants of the sample were selected by convenience. A hypermedia system, hosted at the SOLAR virtual environment, was made available for data collection. A validated instrument was used to assess prior knowledge (pre-test) and acquired knowledge (post-test) after the educational strategy. The Likert scale was used to assess the hypermedia system and students' attitudes. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 20.0) and the Wilcoxon test, with a 5% significance level. Before starting the classes in the virtual environment, 67.9% of the students regarded their knowledge of STDs as limited. At the end of the modules, 78.5% of the students considered learning quite substantial. A statistical difference was observed in students' learning achievement, with an evident increase in the average number of correct answers in the post-test (p=0.00). Most participants considered the hypermedia system and their attitude toward online learning appropriate. The hypermedia system for teaching and learning about STDs aided in the professional training process, stimulating a motivating learning process through multimedia resources. This system constitutes a complementary didactic resource for theoretical teaching in undergraduate nursing courses.