lable at ScienceDirect

Nurse Education in Practice 11 (2011) e32

Contents lists avai

Nurse Education in Practice

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/nepr

Book Review

DevelopingOnlineLearningEnvironments inNursingEducation,CarolO’Neil, Cheryl Fisher, SusanK.Newbold, seconded. SpringerPublishing Company (2008). ISBN: 978-0826169020

The second edition of this book describes the development anddelivery of online courses, including the conversion of traditionalcourses to an online format. The book is divided into twelve chap-ters which, according to the editor, includes three new chaptersfrom the first edition on Web-based learning theories andteaching with technology. The first two chapters provide an intro-duction to teaching and learning with technology and the back-ground to the pedagogy associated with learning in an onlineformat. Chapters three and four examine what is required tocreate an online course, not just in terms of the hardware neededbut also the impact it has on faculty, students and technicalsupport. Chapter five further develops these themes by providinga useful decision tree which helps guide faculty in setting up anonline course from the beginning and its potential impact. Chap-ters six, seven, and eight describe how to translate the principlesof learning and instruction into materials for online delivery, theopportunities created for interaction between students andfaculty and how to manage that dynamic. Chapter nine empha-sises the importance of course assessment and evaluation. Ananalysis of continuing education in the online environment andhow it can be improved is the focus of chapter ten. Chapter elevengives some examples of technology used in teaching. This chaptercould be improved by discussing developments such as mobilelearning (use of handheld Internet connected devices includingsmartphones for learning) which would be relevant for nursesbased in different clinical environments. Likewise the area of

doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2011.05.003

podcasting is only given a single paragraph. This could beimproved by examining the associated technology, software andits impact on teaching in greater depth. The final chapter hasa different focus from the rest of the book, in that it looks ateducating patients rather that educating students.

This book emphasises the importance of getting the learningstrategies and pedagogic principles correct first before attemptingto create the course. It frequently reminds the reader that thestudent should be the centre of the learning process and that thetechnology should be used to enhance that process. These princi-ples are relevant to any subject area, not just learning environmentsin nursing education. The authors have extensive experience innursing education in North American institutions and the book iswritten from a North American perspective. There is a detailedlist of references with each chapter which are North American inscope. It also includes current online resources and web links.The book is a comprehensive resource for nursing instructors butit would benefit from expanding the chapter on Using Technologyin Teaching. It is clearly organised, formatted and easy to read.There are frequent headings and bullet point lists which are inte-grated well with the body of the text. If the reader has an interestin a particular chapter, this can be read on a stand-alone basis.This book is very useful for anyone considering setting up an onlinecourse from the beginning or converting courses from the class-room to the online environment.

Paul CostelloLearning Technologist, Trinity College Dublin, School of Nursing and

Midwifery, 24 D’Olier Street, Dublin 2, IrelandE-mail address: costeln@tcd.ie