Exploring 21stCentury Learning Skills of Nursing Students, Naresuan University

Abstract

The aim of this descriptive research study was to examine and compare the 21st Century learning skills of undergraduate nursing students. The study sample was composed of 445 nursing students in all year levels in the academic year 2017. The research instruments consist of two parts: the demographic data questionnaire and Turner et.al.'s (2015) 21st century skills of nursing student questionnaire. The Cronbach's Alpha reliability Coefficient of the 21st century skills of nursing student questionnaire was 0.97. Both descriptive statistics and One-way ANOVA were performed for the data analysis. The research findings were: 1. Nursing students in all year levels reported the good level of the 21st century skills ( = 3.84, SD = .38). The highest mean score was Computing and Information Communication Technology skills ( = 4.31, SD = .56), and the lowest mean score was reading, writing, and arithmetic ( = 3.47, SD = .45). 2. Nursing students in each year level reported the good level of the 21st century skills ( = 3.75-3.99, SD = .35-.39). The 4th year of nursing students reported the highest mean score of the 21st century skills ( = 3.99, SD = .39) and their score was statistically different from those of the 2nd year level ( = 3.75, SD = .36), p < .001 and the 3rd year level ( = 3.79, SD = .39), p < .01. These research results indicated that undergraduate nursing students in Naresuan University had good level of the 21st century skills. The teaching methods should be developed and resources should be facilitated in order to enhance nursing students' 21st century skills especially those skills with low level of the mean scores.