• José Luis Fernández Alemán, Juan Manuel Carrillo de Gea, and Juan José Rodríguez Mondéjar.
• University of Murcia, Departamento de Informática y Sistemas, Facultad de Informática, Campus de Espinardo, 30071- Espinardo, Murcia, Spain. aleman@um.es
• Nurse Educ Today. 2011 Nov 1; 31 (8): 866-71.

PurposeThis paper presents a novel approach of computer-assisted learning for nursing education in university undergraduate courses.BackgroundThe most innovative aspect of the proposal is the design of nursing assignments as on-line competitions. The effects of competitive e-learning versus conventional teaching methods on the acquisition and retention of knowledge were compared in a course on medical-surgical nursing.MethodA total of 116 students of mixed gender, age, computer experience and educational background in a second-year course on medical-surgical nursing participated in the study. Data were collected from nursing students at four time points. The on-line activities were carried out using a web-based automatic evaluation system.ResultsThe study revealed that the competitive e-learning method produced significant cognitive gains for the experimental group students in the immediate follow-up test. Nevertheless, both teaching methods resulted in similar knowledge retention in the 10-week follow-up test.ConclusionSignificant benefits were found following our approach. The work of the students could be evaluated along the course, the workload of instructors was reduced and students received immediate feedback by the on-line judge, which promoted both independent learning and reflective thinking. The approach is applicable to any other nursing educational institution.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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