Internet Use Essay

Introduction Learning is a process of acquiring modifications in existing knowledge, skills, habits, or tendencies through experience, practice, or exercise. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2012) Clinical education is a vital component in the curricula of pre-registration nursing courses and provides student nurses with the opportunity to combine cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains. Various studies have suggested that not all practice settings are able to provide nursing students with a positive learning environment. In order to maximize nursing students’ clinical learning outcomes, there is a need to examine the clinical learning environment. (Chan, 2004) Clinical experience has been the vital part of nursing education. According to Dunn and Burnette (1995), it is the avenue for the students to utilize the theories that they’ve learned in their discussion. It prepares student nurses to be able of â€Å"doing† as well as â€Å"knowing† the clinical principles in practice. The clinical practice stimulates students to use their critical thinking skills for problem solving. It is where the student nurses enhance their knowledge in nursing concepts and principles as well as to develop and improve their skills and attitude towards rendering quality of nursing services. Internet is a worldwide network that connects millions of computer and rapidly transforming the character of life and work. Internet gives tremendous impact on the conduct of every aspect in life especially in education. Nowadays, most of the students rely in the new trends brought by technology. When it comes to education, internet is the number one sour ce of the students in making school requirements. However, there are negative aspects too with regards in using internet, but if we use it enough in the right way, it will be a big help and easier for us to learn something new in just a click away. The internet, or sometimes called â€Å"The Net† is a worldwide system of computer network at any computer can get information from any other computers. (Gaylah, 2010) Regular use of computers can have an effect on student performance on standardized tests, according to a new study by researchers at Boston College and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Analyzing test performance and computers uses of 1986 fourth grade students from 55 classrooms in nine Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems (MCAS) English Language Arts Exam. According to federal communication commission, 97% of schools across the country had internet connectivity as of 2010 (FCC, 2010). Far fewer, were able to successfully meet the need from higher speed access, the FCC said, citing that demand as one reason it unveiled its National Broadband Plan in March 2010. A study of I. Kabakci, et al., about â€Å"Parents Views about Internet use of their Children† was revealed that parents consi der Internet as an important source that children can especially use to do research for their lessons and to do their homework. It was concluded that Internet influences the personal development of children negatively because children are exposed to physiological effects since they spend a lot of time on internet. The study of Kabacki et. Al., was all about Internet Use and Its Effect to Academic Performance but there was only limited study conducted about Internet and Clinical Performance of Nursing Students, thus, the Researchers would like to conduct a study about the Internet Use in Clinical Performance of Nursing Students to identify how student’s performance on clinical area would be affected with the use of internet and to fill the gap of the researcher’s curiosity about the said study. Statement of the Problem This study was intended to determine the effects of internet use of student nurses in relation to their clinical performance. Specifically, the study sought answers to the following: 1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of: 1.1 sex; 1.2 age; 1.3 year level; and 1.4 weekly allowance? 2. How often do student nurses use the Internet? 3. Is there a significant relationship between student nurses’ use of the Internet and their profile variates? 4. What is the clinical performance of the student nurse-respondents? 5. Is there a significant relationship between student-respondents’ clinical performance and profile variates? 6. Is there a significant relationship between Internet usage of student nurses and their clinical performance? 7. What are the implications can be drawn from the study? Hypotheses Based on the specific questions presented above, the following hypotheses were tested: 1. There is no significant relationship between student nurses’ use of the Internet and their profile variates. 2. There is no significant relationship between students-respondents clinical performance and profile variates. 3. There is no significant relationship between Internet use of student nurses and their clinical performance. Theoretical Framework Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning by Mayer where in the principle known as the multimedia principle states that â€Å"people learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone†(Mayer,1996 p.47). However, simply adding words to pictures is not an effective way to achieve multimedia learning. The goal is to instructional media in the light of how human mind works. This is the bases of Mayer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning. This theory proposes three main assumptions when it comes to learning with multimedia: There are two separate channels, auditory and visual for processing information sometimes referred to as Dual-coding Theory; Each channel has a limited (finite) capacity similar to Sweller’s notion of cognitive; Learning is an active process of filtering, selecting, organizing and integrating information based upon prior knowledge. Humans can only process a finite amount of information in a channel at a time and they make of sense o f incoming information by acting creating mental representations. Mayer also discusses the role of three memory stores sensory (which receives stimuli and restores if for a very short time), working (where we actively process information to create mental constructs (or schema) and long-term (the repository of all things learned). Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia presents the idea that the brain does not interpret a multimedia presentation of words, pictures and auditory information in a mutually exclusive fashion; rather these elements are selected organized dynamically to produce logical mental constructs. Furthermore, Mayer underscores the importance of learning (based upon the testing of content and demonstrating the successful transfer of knowledge) when new information is integrated with prior knowledge. Design principles include providing coherent verbal, pictorial information, guiding the learners to select relevant words and images and reducing the load for a sing processing channel etc. can be entailed from this theory. Experi mental Learning Theory by David A. Kolb emphasizes that the true play in the learning process. He states that â€Å"learning is a process is whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience† (1984, p.38). The theory presents a cyclical model of learning, consisting of four stages. One may begin at any stage, but must follow each other in the sequence: concrete experience (or â€Å"DO†), reflective observation (or â€Å"OBSERVE†), abstract conceptualization (or â€Å"THINK†), active experimentation (or â€Å"PLAN†). Kolb’s four-stage learning cycle shows how experience is translated through reflection into concepts, which in turn are used as guides for active experimentation and the choice of new experiences. The first stage, concrete experience (CE), is where the learner actively experiences an activity such as a lab session or field work. The second stage, reflective observation (RO), is when the learner consciously reflects back on that experience. The third stage, abstract conceptualization (AC), is where the le arner attempts to conceptualize a theory or model of what is observed. The fourth stage, active experimentation (AE), is where the learner is trying to plan how to test a model or theory or plan for a forthcoming experience. Kolb identified four learning styles which correspond to these stages. The styles highlight conditions under which learners learn better. These styles are: assimilators, who learn better when presented with sound logical theories to consider, convergers, who learn better when provided with practical applications of concepts and theories, accommodators, who learn better when provided with â€Å"hands-on† experiences, divergers, who learn better when allowed to observe and collect a wide range of information. Conceptual Framework Presented in the Figure 1 is the Conceptual Framework of the research study, a frame at the base of the diagram shows the study group or the research environment, 78 Student Nurses of Samar State University S.Y. 2012-2013. The said frame is connected to a bigger frame by a single arrow where it consist the research process. The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between the internet use of students and their profile variates, the internet use of students and clinical performance, and the relationship between the profile variates and clinical performance of the students. The frame for the research process is connected to the finding and analysis of the researcher and the implication which serves as a room of opportunity in the improvement of learning skills of student nurses.