| Online instruction is quickly changing the face of nursing education. While nursing education accrediting organizations nationwide have asserted the benefits of learner-centered instruction (LCI) to develop future nurses with critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills, the question remains as to whether online nursing courses are meeting their proposed standards.; For this reason, the Quality Standards Inventory (QSI) was developed to evaluate whether online instruction meets LCI's tenets. This multi-case study examined the perceptions of learner-centered instruction in online nursing education courses of 9 nursing instructors and 40 (N = 40) students at an accredited private research university in North Carolina.; Results from this study validated the reliability of the QSI and revealed an alignment of perceptions of LCI among students and faculty. Both quantitative and qualitative data evidenced the QSI's usefulness for instructors, students and outside evaluators to determine if online courses were designed with the tenets of learner-centered instruction. Recommendations for future research include evaluating the QSI's reliability with a larger sample size, diversified course content, and varied higher education settings. |
