E-Learning in Nursing: Tool Development for Evaluating Virtual Patient Learning Systems

BackgroundThe growing number of online nursing programs increased the demand to utilize interactive virtual patient learning systems in online nursing courses.PurposeTo develop and assess the validity of a tool named “Virtual Patient Learning System Evaluation Tool”.MethodsThis study was conducted in 2015–2017. The tool’s validity was determined through the assessment of content validity using an exploratory factor analysis on the data provided by 160 RN-BSN online nursing students.ResultsExploratory factor analysis was used to analyze four factors including: (a) communication (19%), (b) nursing care plan application (21%), (c) competency development using a virtual learning system (42%), and performance evaluation (4.5%). These factors explained 86.5% of the total variance, with a correlation coefficient ranging from 0.46 to .921 (p < .001). In this study, reliability was demonstrated by a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.973 indicating a reliable measure for this tool.ConclusionEvaluating the effectiveness of virtual learning systems will guide the online teaching pedagogies and the online nursing program development.