Application and Analysis of a Mobile E-Book System Based on Project-Based Learning in Community Health Nursing Practice Courses

Nursing practice courses are the most formative part of nursing education. Through practice, nursing students apply, validate, and clarify theories taught in class. Recently, research on the application of mobile devices in nursing practice courses has advanced rapidly. An e-book system that integrates text, audio, and images can improve a learner’s attention, interest, and creativity. Few studies have explored e-book use in education in regional health centers, and studies that have approached this topic have focused only on the data search and retrieval aspects. To address this gap, the current study introduced an e-book system that integrated project-based learning and authentic learning into a community health nursing practice course. Analysis results of a 3-week experiment indicated that the diverse functions, multimedia features, and convenience of the e-book system not only increased learning interest and motivation but also improved learning effectiveness. However, the cognitive load imposed on nursing students using the e-book system also increased, because they were required to create and edit teaching materials for a new health care education method.