Nurse.com
Introduction
A virtual learning community (VLC) is defined as an on-line community that is specifically designed for learning (Riel and Polin, 2004). The VLC that I have chosen is Nurse.com. I actually was googling for a site for nurse educators and in one of the sites it had a link to this site for discussion forums. After browsing through the site I decided to become a member to have the availability to blog or participate in any discussion forums. So far, I have been mostly an observer, although I did post an introduction on the introduction forum and have replied to a post on a new Associate Degree Nurse debating on whether to go back to school for her Bachelors in Nurse Science. The variety of learning opportunities in this site is impressive and I plan on enrolling in some of them.
My first impression was that there was a lot to choose from. I almost didn’t know where to begin. The tabs at the top of the screen broke it down into categories and I pushed each one to see where it would lead. I could look at job postings, broken down by specialty and/or by state, continuing education opportunities, nurse forums, blogs, nursing news, webinars and much more. I feel this would be a great source for continuing education hours and to stay on top of evidence based practice which important in the nursing profession.
Type of Community
Riel and Polin (2004) state that there are three types of virtual learning communities that can overlap: task-based, practice-based and knowledge based. Nurse.com is a combination of practice-based and knowledge-based. It is practice-based because nursing is a large group with a shared goal and nurse.com has an environment of learning (Riel and Polin, 2004). It can also be considered knowledge-based because it is a “process of continual change to a common external knowledge base” (Riel and Polin, 2004). Although with the above I feel this community is more practice-based oriented due to the participants have the availability to participate in educational opportunities related to nursing and can become fully involved with all of its available resources and the history of the practice to give them educational guidance (Riel and Polin, 2004)
The Nurse.com website is actually run by Gannett Healthcare Group out of Illinois (Nurse, 2011). Their mission is stated to “enrich the professional lives of nurses and other healthcare professionals and to celebrate their unique contributions to society” (Nurse, 2011). With its’ many webinars, discussion forums and continuing education opportunities a nurse can keep up with the many changes in nursing especially now with the change to electronic health records as mandated by the government.
Community Structure
Nurse.com is a VLC where a person in the healthcare industry can become a member at no cost. It doesn’t matter if you are a Nurse Aide or a Clinical Nurse Specialist, everyone is welcome and can learn. I feel like the discussion forums can be a good source of information as well as the blogs. It is easy to be a lurker and just read the posts and blogs and learn from other more experienced nurses or actively participate by asking questions or blogging.
My observations on the discussion forums are that there are no moderators to keep the discussions going. In one of them there hadn’t been a post this year at all. This is concerning in keeping participants staying active. I did like the list of continuing education courses available. They had a list of free courses as well as ones that would require payment. The membership to the site also included a free NurseWeek Magazine subscription.
Design Features and Technology
Riel and Polin (2004) states for a practice-based community to survive it has to use a combination of old knowledge, new knowledge and ongoing participation of diverse members. Nurse.com does appear to meet the criteria. It has participations from all areas of nursing, from Case Managers to Nurse Aides to Staff Nurses and uses the combined knowledge and provides continuing education classes and webinars for each area. It has a social aspect to it with nurse forums for questions regarding furthering education or changing of areas of expertise. It stays on top of the political arena and has news articles that can, and will, affect nurses. I was impressed with the education opportunities regarding electronic charting. This is a fast approaching arena and needs to be addressed. Nurse.com is addressing it and providing nurses with the learning tools they need to succeed.
Summary
This case study was an interesting education opportunity that has enriched my technological learning. Both communities had their positive points and I feel that they will be available for new learners and social networkers for a long time. Facebook is listening to their members and providing new games and causes for their patrons to join. They also make it easy to find friends from the past and present. Nurse.com is a great place for nurses to communicate to other nurses for social interaction as well as learning opportunities. It meets the attributes for a practice-based learning environment. The webinars and continuing education opportunities are appropriate for the needs of nurses today. I envision them to continue to provide educational opportunities appropriate for these fast changes in healthcare.
References
Facebook (2010). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook.
Facebook (2011). Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/facebook#!/facebook?sk=info
Renninger, K. A. & Shumar, W. (2010). Death of media moo. Building virtual communities:
learning and change in cyberspace. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Riel and Polin (2004). Online Learning Communities: Common ground and technical difference
in designing technical environments. In S. A. Barab, R. Kling, J. H. Gray, (eds.),
Designing for virtual communities in the service of learning. NY: Cambridge University
Press.
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