Nurse Educators’ Perceptions Regarding Online Education: A Qualitative Study

https://doi.org/10.9743/JEO.2024.21.3.6

Abstract

The fourth industrial revolution has brought about plenty of changes in the educational landscape. As a result, the implementation of online education is now a necessity for any higher education institution that seeks recognition in the 21st century. Furthermore, online education has become a well-established global practice that enables active, individual, and flexible learning. While online education is growing at a tremendous rate in higher education, in South Africa, its use in Nursing Education is a relatively new phenomenon. This explorative, descriptive, qualitative research design paper aimed to report the results of a whole study whose purpose was to explore and describe the perceptions nurse educators have towards online education at the Nursing Education Institution in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Three themes emerged: the perceived advantages of online education, the perceived disadvantages of online education, and the perceived measures that can be used to promote the use of online education. The study concludes that online education has both advantages and disadvantages.

Keywords: KwaZulu-Natal Province, nurse educators, online education, perceptions, explorative design, descriptive design