In order to realise their full potential as learners, it is essential that students have good self-directed learning skills. It is also important that students develop their own roles in learning by continuously monitoring their own learning progress, identifying areas of deficit and making a conscious effort towards self-improvement. In this paper, Swapna Naskar Williamson reports on the devel...

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional studentcentered approach which utilizes carefully constructed realworld, ill-defined problems as a context for students to extend their prior experiences and knowledge through discussion and self-directed and collaborative learning that fosters the development of problem-solving and reasoning skills.1 Compared with traditional lecture-dominant te...

BACKGROUND Self-directed learning is crucial to the professional development of nursing students, and which enables them to expand the knowledge and enhance the quality of their practice. A validated self-directed learning instrument is important not only in assessing the individual's self-directed learning level, but also in evaluating the effectiveness of teaching or learning methods. The aim...

The aim of this paper is to present the results of the first phase of a project called Just4me. The project proposes the design, and development and pilot test of a technological platform that supports a ubiquitous personal learning environment (PLE) designed for lifelong learners across different professional, social and training contexts. In this paper, we define functional requirements that ...

Purpose: Exploration of some major obstacles to integrated care in ‘countries in transition’ in central/eastern Europe. Context: ‘Integration’ is virtually a universal policy aim of European ‘transition’ countries. Seduced by the prospect of increased value from scarce resources, governments strive to transform traditional compartmentalised ‘curative’ health systems, into more integrated system...

Professional identity development, seen as essential in the transition from student to professional, needs to be owned by the universities in order to ensure a workforce appropriately prepared to provide global health care in the future. The development of professional identity involves a focus on who the student is becoming, as well as what they know or can do, and requires authentic learning ...