e-Learning in nursing education--Challenges and opportunities.
Quick changes on the field of informational communication technologies forces educational and other institutions to think about different ways of teaching and learning in both formal and informal environments. It addition it is well known that due to fast advancement of science and technology the knowledge gained in schools is getting out-of-date rapidly, so life long learning is becoming an essential alternative. As a consequence we are facing a rapid development and use of new educational approaches such as e-learning, simulations, virtual reality, etc. They brought a revolution to learning and instruction. But in general the empirical results of e-learning studies are somewhat disappointing. They cannot prove the superiority of e-learning processes over traditional learning in general, neither in specific areas like nursing. In our international study we proved that e-Learning can have many benefits and that it can enhance learning experience in nursing education, but it has to be provided in correct manner.