Megan Yih Chyn A . Kek

Objectives
In this paper, a review of nursing education literature is employed to ascertain the extent to which nursing educators apply theory to their research, as well as the types of theory they employ. In addition, the use of research methodologies in the nursing education literature is explored.

Design
An integrative review.

Methods
A systematic search was conducted for English-language, peer reviewed publications of any research design via Academic Search Complete, Science Direct, CINAHL, and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition databases from 2001 to 2016, of which 140 were reviewed.

Findings
The findings suggest that within current nursing education literature the scholarship of discovery, and the exploration of epistemologies other than nursing, in particular as they relate to teaching and learning, shows significant potential for expansion and diversification.

Conclusions
The analysis highlights opportunities for nursing educators to incorporate broader theoretical, pedagogical, methodological and philosophical perspectives within teaching and the scholarship of teaching.

In this paper, we discuss the concept of an agile PBL ecology for learning, and we explore how this concept can help adaptations of PBL into the future. A PBL ecology for learning is developed as a response to a higher education environment that is undergoing profound changes. An agile PBL ecology for learning deliberately blurs the boundaries between disciplines, between students and teachers, between students and employers, between employers and teachers, between academics and professional staff, between formal and informal learning, and between teaching and research. In this paper, we argue that no one person is responsible for educating students. Rather, it is everyone’s responsibility—teachers, students, employers, administrators, and the wider social networks, inside and outside of the institution of higher education. An agile PBL for learning is about making connections, rather than erecting barriers.

Background and Aim
As part of the process of nursing students becoming ‘work ready’ within future health care teams, students need the skills to work collaboratively. In higher education, establishing group work assignments is a teaching method to develop group work skills. Not only is group work an important teaching method to develop effective group work skills but it is also used to activate deep learning. However, to date, there has been a lack of research on the impact of group work on student approaches to learning. This study aimed to examine the interrelationships between students, group work characteristics, and their approaches to learning.

Design and Participants
A survey design was used, before and after a targeted academic skills development intervention, which had a specific focus on the development of group work skills. The sample involved first year undergraduate nursing students undertaking a Bachelor of Nursing programme at a regional university in Australia. A total of 92 students completed the pre-survey, and 102 students completed the post-survey.

Method
Data were collected using quantitative surveys.

Results
Metacognitive awareness was found to best predict a deep approach to learning. Young age and experiencing discomfort in group work were two predictors of a surface approach to learning.

Conclusion
Findings indicate that nurse educators should develop strategies that support students' metacognitive awareness in relation to group work, and also support those students who feel less comfortable in working with others.

In the introduction to her book Problem-based Learning Online, Maggi Savin-Baden (2006) outlined the key challenges of using problem-based learning (PBL) online. Her two main underlying points were firstly that we do not really know or understand fully what it is we have created in PBL online, which she terms ‘unrealised complexity,’ and secondly that there has been considerable effort expended on the development of managed learning environments rather than the pedagogy of such development. In many ways, these underlying points are still highly relevant today, and they affect a number of key concerns and research questions that were identified at the time:

• whether (and how) PBL online would affect the existence of face-to face problem-based learning
• whether it would destroy some of the original goals of PBL such as learning in groups, group work, or critical thinking

This chapter combines theories of Problem Based Learning (PBL) with technology-supported learning practice to bridge the divide between theory and practice as it relates to the development of online PBL curricula. To make a theoretical argument about why PBL is a good approach to teaching in the 21st century is not so difficult, as it appears to tick all the right boxes. However, there is a large gap between the theory and the practice, especially because PBL has the biggest potential impact if it is seen as a holistic approach to learning and teaching, rather than as one of many teaching techniques that include curriculum design, assessment, e-learning or any other element of learning and teaching that can be addressed in isolation. Any rewards, however small, from PBL can be achieved by design in a holistic manner and at the curriculum level. This means in turn that the implementation of PBL on an institutional level often encounters major obstacles and challenges, ranging from professional development needs to expectations about resource needs. In short, the theory behind PBL is convincing, but the link to practice is not always explicitly made. This paper attempts to address this gap between PBL theory and practice, by exploring a combination of PBL theory and blended learning theory and applying them to a practical application model. This is crucial if the goal is to revitalise problem-based learning for a new generation of learners, and to make it a relevant and rewarding pedagogical approach for this generation.

This chapter provides an outline of how the essential elements of problem-based learning (PBL) can be adapted to enhance inquiry-based learning environments and in the process teach 21st century skills. It uses a case study of a first-year nursing course at a regional Australian university to show how essential PBL elements can be adapted in an ‘ePBL’ context, following five ePBL steps. Overall, it is argued that a carefully mapped outset of learning outcomes and PBL problems designed as
inquiry-based activities provide a ‘liquid learning’ environment that will ultimately prepare confident graduates who will be able to take full advantage of the 21st century learning and professional contexts in which they find themselves.

In this book we respond to a higher education environment that is on the verge of profound changes by imagining an evolving and agile problem-based learning ecology for learning. The goal of doing so is to humanise university education by pursuing innovative approaches to student learning, teaching, curricula, assessment, and professional learning, and to employ interdisciplinary methods that go far beyond institutional walls and include student development and support, curriculum sustainability, research and the scholarship of teaching and learning, as well as administration and leadership.
An agile problem-based learning (PBL) ecology for learning deliberately blurs the boundaries between disciplines, between students and teachers, between students and employers, between employers and teachers, between academics and professional staff, between formal and informal learning, and between teaching and research. It is based on the recognition that all of these elements are interconnected and constantly evolving, rather than being discrete and static.
Throughout this book, our central argument is that there is no single person who is responsible for educating students. Rather, it is everyone’s responsibility – teachers, students, employers, administrators, and wider social networks, inside and outside of the university. Agile PBL is about making connections, rather than erecting barriers.
In summary, this book is not about maintaining comfort zones, but rather about becoming comfortable with discomfort. The actual implementation is beyond the scope of this book and we envisage that changing perceptions towards this vision will itself be a mammoth task. However, we believe that the alternative of leaving things as they are would ultimately prove untenable, and more distressingly, would leave a generation of students afraid to think, feel, and act for themselves, let alone being able to face the challenges of the 21st century.