Teachersʹ views of using e-learning for non-traditional students in higher education across three disciplines [nursing, chemistry and management] at a time of massification and increased diversity in higher education

SummaryBackground pansion of the higher educational sector in the United Kingdom over the last two decades to meet political aspirations of the successive governments and popular demand for participation in the sector (the Widening Participation Agenda) has overlapped with the introduction of e-learning. ives aper describes teachersʹ views of using e-learning for non-traditional students in higher education across three disciplines [nursing, chemistry and management] at a time of massification and increased diversity in higher education. e phase, mixed methods study; this paper reports findings from phase two of the study. gs iversity in England. ipants education teachers teaching on the nursing, chemistry and management programmes. s groups with these teachers. gs gs from these data show that teachers across the programmes have limited knowledge of whether students are non-traditional or what category of non-traditional status they might be in. Such knowledge as they have does not seem to influence the tailoring of teaching and learning for non-traditional students. Teachers in chemistry and nursing want more support from the university to improve their use of e-learning, as did teachers in management but to a lesser extent. sions nclusions confirm other studies in the field outside nursing which suggest that non-traditional studentsʹ learning needs have not been considered meaningfully in the development of e-learning strategies in universities. We suggest that this may be because teachers have been required to develop e-learning at the same time as they cope with the massification of, and widening participation in, higher education. The findings are of particular importance to nurse educators given the high number of non-traditional students on nursing programmes.