The coordinator role for a nursing online graduate practicum.

Although graduate students in nursing are adult learners and expert clinicians, they are often novices in the roles they seek upon graduation. Practicum experiences help students bridge the gap between theory learned in course work and beginning practice at the master's level. However, finding practica for online nursing graduate students at great distances is often a challenge. The value of having a point person for the coordination of students' practicum experiences in multiple settings is well known. What is less well known is how this coordination occurs across great distances in online courses that include a practicum component. The authors discuss the design and implementation of a practicum coordinator position in a graduate online program.

Team-based learning: systematic research review.

Team-based learning (TBL) is an active learning method developed to help students achieve course objectives while learning how to function in teams. Many faculty members have adopted TBL because it is a unique teaching method, but evidence about its effectiveness is unclear. Seventeen original studies on TBL are presented in this systematic review of research. The studies include descriptive, explanatory, and experimental research published from 2003 to 2011 in the nursing, medical, education, and business literature. Generally, students are satisfied with TBL and student engagement is higher in TBL classes. Evidence also exists that students in TBL classes score higher on examinations. However, further high-quality experimental studies are needed to confirm that TBL positively affects examination scores and other learning outcomes and to determine whether TBL produces students who have the ability to function well in groups.