The Elizabeth Kenny McCann Nursing Education Forum was a great success! Thank you to all who attended, facilitated, participated and presented at the forum. We were delighted to see 30 people there, including faculty, and graduate students. The following highlights guest speakers and group discussions from the forum.

Simon Bates, Senior Advisor and Academic Director of the Institute of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISoTL) spoke of expertise-centred classrooms. In an expertise-centred classroom, students are seen as being on a pathway from novice-to-expert. To evaluate progress along this expert path, Simon introduced concept inventories to evaluate to what extent students think like scientists, or like nurses, rather than how much information they know.

Kevin Eva, Acting Director of the Centre for Health Education Scholarship (CHES) shared the programs available at CHES for the School of Nursing faculty. The aim of CHES is to improve healthcare through improving healthcare education. They build capacity by offering mentoring programs, one time consultation or formal programs like a masters program in health professional education. CHES wants nursing to be more involved and Kevin encouraged faculty to call, email and drop by CHES.

Merilee Hughes the UBC School of Nursing Grant Facilitator, spoke of sources of funding for nursing education within the School of Nursing. The Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) was created to enhance student learning by supporting educational improvements. For more about TLEF please see their website here. Sources for educational project funding will also be available from the EKM fund in the coming year:

1. For presentation of papers/posters on nursing education
2. For small scale educational research projects.

Bernie Garrett, discussed EKM Scholarship of Teaching and Learning activities, and presented a Pecha Kucha (20 slides of 20 seconds each) on Nursing Education and Scholarshp as an exemplar for this type of presentation. Bernie’s presentation can be downloaded here: Education Pecha Kucha, and can be used for anyone who wants to attempt one in class. There is an automatic timer and animated timing slider built in.

Interactive Discussions 

The following subjects were discussed at the forum, with a mix of subjects from faculty, and the top three subjects selected for inclusion by students.

FACULTY-STUDENT COMMUNICATION

Attendees Were Asked:

1. What factors currently get in the way/impede good student faculty communication and interaction in the School?
2. What factors would improve faculty/student communication in the School?

Key Points for Action:

• Communication systems need to be streamlined
• Additional forms of communication are needed like social media, hallway boards, blogs or e-newsletters
• Need interaction outside the classroom to create greater trust between students and faculty as the hierarchical relationship between students and teachers may impede open communication, with a fear of punitive action as a result
• Townhall meetings currently should take place once per semester
• Informal meetings take place at Mahoney’s or a barbeque community event in the fall

THEORY PRACTICE GAP

Attendees Were Asked:

1. Do you think the Theory/Practice gap is still a significant issue in nursing education? If so what examples can you give of your experience of it?
2. Why do you think students still feel it is an issue?
3. Does the cause of this concern chiefly lie with the School, the practice areas or both?
4. What practical educational techniques and strategies can better align theoretical content with practice?
5. Identify and write down 4 key priorities for action the School should address to help resolve this issue over the coming year.

Key Points for Action:

• Greater organization and communication between course leaders and clinical instructors
• More use of case studies in the classroom

FLEXIBLE LEARNING

Attendees Were Asked:

1. What do you understand by the term “flexible learning” and do you think it is innovative approach or a recycling of older ideas?
2. What is meant by “the flipped classroom” and how could we use it in our courses?
3. What educational technologies and teaching strategies are needed to support flexible learning?
4. What skills are needed by teachers to implement flexible learning and are they the same as traditional teaching skills?
5. Identify and write down 4 key priorities for action the School should address to help explore the value of flexible learning  approaches in the coming year.

Key Points for Action:

• Increased support to improve faculty comfort with technology
• Increased professional development for innovative pedagogic ideas

LAB EDUCATION

Attendees Were Asked:

1. Is there still a role for clinical skills labs in todays undergraduate nursing curriculum (some countries have got rid of most of them and delegated skills teaching almost entirely into the practice area)?
2. What do you think are the main problems with our current skills labs and lab teaching and learning of clinical skills?
3. What is working in the labs, and what isn’t? Give examples.
4. Do you think patient simulation offers us an opportunity to improve students lab experiences, if so how? If not why not?
5. How can we use our simulation and patient simulator resources more effectively?
6. Identify and write down 4 key priorities for action the School should address to help improve students lab experiences in the coming year.

Key Points for Action:

• Purchase of more up to date equipment
• Stop reusing equipment whenever possible (although may impact lab fees – so maybe do a survey to ascertain student opinion )
• Provide a better space for labs

ADULT EDUCATION

Attendees Were Asked:

1. What do you understand the key principles of androgogic (adult focused – after Malcolm Knowles) and student-centered education are?
2. Is adult and student-centred learning compatible with professional training for clinical competence (can you think of any specific perceived problem areas)?
3. What strategies promote andragogic and student-centered learning best? Give examples.
4. What experiences do you think lead students to feel the approach to education at the SoN is not adult or student centered?
5. Identify and write down 4 key priorities for action the School could address that might help support a more androgogic and student-centred experience for students in the coming year.

 Key Points of Action:

• Better coordinated student-faculty communications
• Increased use of problem based learning in some courses

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

Attendees Were Asked:

1. What do you think are the best strategies to assess what students have learned fairly, and for them to be manageable for teachers? Give examples for a theory course.
2. Why grade at all, instead of using pass/fail criteria? What are the key arguments for continuing to use grade bands (A,B,C etc.) in our undergraduate program?
3. Is adult and student-centred learning compatible with professional training for clinical competence (can you think of any specific perceived problem areas)?
4. Is there an argument to return to graded practice for clinical performance (rather than competency-based assessment)?
5. Identify and write down 4 suggested guidelines you think the School should adopt for teachers to use in creating practical and fair assessment strategies for Level 300/400 courses.

Key Points of Action:

• Establish a policy around How much time can you expect students to spend on assignments and faculty on grading
• Faculty encouraged to give assignments with choice of methods (e.g. do either A, B, or C – all worth 30%)

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The key points from these discussions have been passed on to the Undergraduate and Graduate Program Committees at the School of Nursing, to help inform and improve our future practice.

THANK YOU again to everyone who participated in the 2013 Elizabeth Kenny McCann Educational Forum. The forum highlighted some current issues regarding educational scholarship, identified ways to improve practice and promote student centred learning.