A group of nurses experience open learning—further explorations of the impact

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the findings of a longitudinal study that investigated the experiences of a group of nurses studying on a two year open learning (OL) course. The findings of the pilot phase of this study were published in Open Learning journal in April 2000 (Dearnley & Matthew, 2000). That initial small‐scale study indicated that the OL modality had been influential on the positive outcomes of the course. The main study, discussed in this paper, built upon those outcomes and drew upon earlier works, such as Maslow (1962, 1968, 1970), Perry (1970), Carper (1978) and Belenky et al. (1986) to explore and explain the changing ways of knowing and nursing experienced by the participants.

Keywords:

• Motivation
• Reflection
• Epistemiology
• Personal and professional development

Notes

* Corresponding author: Division of Health Care Studies, School of Health Studies, Unity Building, University of Bradford, Trinity Road, Bradford, BD5 0BB. Email: c.a.dearnley1@ bradford.ac.uk

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christine Dearnley*

* Corresponding author: Division of Health Care Studies, School of Health Studies, Unity Building, University of Bradford, Trinity Road, Bradford, BD5 0BB. Email: c.a.dearnley1@ bradford.ac.uk