2017 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 1-14
〔Purpose〕To identify characteristics of nursing students’ online discussion by examining the flow of the discussion and differences in students’ pre/post self-evaluations.
〔Method〕Six nursing topics were discussed by 48 second-year undergraduate nursing students on a specialized web-discussion system, WebD. Using the pre/post questionnaire survey, a quantitative analysis was performed on their discussions. A qualitative analysis looking at “the flow of online discussion” and “thinking” was performed on the contents of WebD.
〔Results〕Students’ pre/post self-evaluation of discussion skills showed improvement （p<0.05） after WebD experience. Also, self-evaluation showed students took a liking to discussion and they gained logical thinking ability. Ten categories in “the flow of online discussion” were extracted, such as: 〈broadening the scope of the situation〉, 〈encouraging the exchange of ideas〉, and 〈supporting discussion members〉. Within “thinking” five categories were identified, such as: 〈visualizing the situation and proposing solutions〉 and 〈exploring evidence and examining the reasoning within the topic〉.
〔Discussion〕WebD encouraged positive participation by nursing students in the discussion and made it possible for them to develop thinking skills while discussing on WebD.
