The pinnacle goal of nursing education is to cause student learning through effective coursework and experiences to improve nursing practice and positively impact patient outcomes. Population health coursework within nursing education has been identified as a method to change nursing practice and elevate health care outcomes (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2011; Stiefel & Nolan, 2012 & Stoto, 2013). Nursing educators have been directed to design innovative learning opportunities that address the gap between education and the demands of nursing practice (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, & Day, 2010). The purpose of this project was to develop an online population health course for RN to BSN students to transform registered nursing practice and integrate population health concepts in their daily approaches to patient care. A transformation of the way practicing nurses think about health care is necessary for them to integrate population health in their practice. Heutagogy and brain-based learning were applied as theoretical foundations for the teaching framework in a population health course; the theories guided the faculty role in facilitating learning and engaging students through the 12 Principles of Brain-based learning (Caine & Caine, 1990). The population health course design was infused with the constructs of both heutagogy and brain-based learning with the intent to trigger transformational thought.

Five open ended questions were designed to gain insight in the student's experience of transformational thought as guided by Meizrow's (2000) Transformational Learning Theory. Seven students responded to the post course survey from the two sample sections of N451 (n=32). Foundational information gained from the qualitative analysis of student responses indicated that transformational thought occurred along with broadened awareness and an expanded view of health. Results suggest that the application of heutagogy and brain-based learning in online course development promotes transformational thought and impacts application of population health concepts in the student's practice.