New Approaches to Engaging Nursing Students: Blended learning as a core teaching approach

Abstract

This paper proposes blended learning as a way of rethinking the educational space for nursing. Presently, many traditional programmes supplement their classroom teaching with online offerings and label this ‘blended learning’. However, online teaching is a new paradigm in learning (Harasim, 2000). The classroom is flipped, the students take centre stage and learning methods, rather than teaching methods, take prominence. This necessitates designing learning experiences that enable students to engage meaningfully with the required content, thereby creating communities of practice through interactive learning, in conjunction with a strong student support system.