Development of the university of california, san francisco microcomputer facility for nursing research and development

Computer workshops of various descriptions are proliferating at a rapid pace to meet the growing need of professionals to become "computer literate." These workshops range from one hour seminars for the general public at computer stores to institutions for specific professional groups such as nurses, business managers, teachers, and faculty development programs at universities. Educators within specific professions such as nursing are frequently unclear on their options for computer literacy education (hardin & skiba, 1982; skiba & hardin, 1983). Increasingly however, educators also wish to respond to learners interests to implement some form of computer related educational workshop. This paper is targeted to nurse educators with interests in implementing computer literacy workshops. In this paper we will analyze our workshop implementation experiences as well as review the literature from several professions in the area of "workshops" for computer literacy. This discussion will be framed within the context of a micro-based computer workshop series designed by the authors. Our workshop series for nurses has been designed to teach nurses about computer technology with specific applications in nursing, and to provide for interactive ("hands on") experience for learners.