Introduction

How this all works

Over the next three weeks we will be exploring a range of subjects related to nursing, focusing on the following:

• The variety of roles undertaken by nurses
• The context of nursing, caring for children, adults, older people, individuals with mental health and cognitive support needs
• Bioscience applied to nursing looking at basic physiological measurement
• Psychology related to nursing including the impact of psychology on physiology
• Sociology related to nursing care and society

We hope that a wide range of people undertake this course. Some of you may have some experience of nursing, but for some of you, everything will be new. Through a range of articles, videos and access to further resources you can learn at whatever level suits you best.

Please note that active tutor facilitation is limited to the number of teaching weeks from when the course run started. Please do not therefore expect any further tutor engagement from beyond then, although you are very welcome to continue to work through the course materials in a self-directed fashion from that point.

Using FutureLearn

If this is the first time you have used FutureLearn, Welcome! You may find it useful to read the FAQ guide. You may also like to read this FutureLearn blog post even if you have used FutureLearn before, which explains about the in-course navigation. We also recommend reading five tips and tools for social learning on FutureLearn to get the most out of the interactive and social learning features of this course.

We hope you engage in discussions and comment on course materials which is an essential part of the learning experience. When contributing it is important that you follow the FutureLearn code of conduct and are respectful of your fellow learners.

You can also use the tools to ‘like’ the posts of others if you agree with what is being said or if you have found something particularly interesting or add your comments to an existing post if you want to develop those ideas further.

You can also click to filter the comments on a step to only see:

• Comments by people you are following
• The most-liked comments
• Your own comments

Follow others

To get the most out of the course, we would strongly suggest that you follow David Graham who is lead educator on this course.

To see comments in your activity feed or when using the ‘following’ filter in discussions, visit David’s profile and click “follow”.

We would also suggest you follow Laura Scott, Alison Smalley, Megan Cook Ted Hewitt, who are also Educators on the course and will be providing insights.

You can also follow other learners to quickly see their comments and contributions to the discussion. To do this click the ‘Follow’ button next to their name (on their profile page).

Engage on social media

We have a hashtag – #FLIntroToNursing – which you are more than welcome to use on social media to talk about the course and to find others who are talking about it too!

Evidence your learning

For anyone wishing to gain validation of their engagement with the course, details on requirements to be eligible for those at the completion of the course can be found within FutureLearn’s Guidance of Certificates and Statements. It’s worth building this into your study model at the very start, so do think about this as we enter the first week.

You may also like to consider FutureLearn’s Unlimited opportunity, which offers unlimited access to hundreds of courses each year.

Let’s get started

When you have finished, please Mark as complete below, and move on – it’s a good habit to get into as your progress through the course so you can measure your progress and work towards final statements and certificates.