Promoting the student practicum : a CD ROM for nursing preceptors

Students who undertake a degree that leads to a professional qualification, such as nursing, are often required to undertake a practical component in their course of study. This frequently involves the use of industry to support, mentor and assess student progress. Such a role is vitally important if the student is to achieve successful learning outcomes. In order to facilitate learning opportunities and evaluate student progress, the industry educators require knowledge to undertake the role with confidence and effectiveness. Using nursing as a case study, but acknowledging that this process is applicable to a variety of disciplines, this paper showcases an effective use of different media for supporting industry educators in nursing, termed preceptors of nursing students. This paper discusses the production of a CD ROM with a focus on the educational issues that formed its development. Further, the authors briefly discuss an evaluation of the CD ROM by users and future development.