Effective educators create—and test—their own teaching recipes!

By Cynthia “Cindy” Clark, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN, psychiatric nurse/therapist, expert on fostering civility and healthy workplaces, and consultant for ATI Nursing Education.

Friday’s opening plenary session was preceded with remarks from Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, chief executive officer of the National League for Nursing. (NERC 2016 is co-sponsored by the National League for Nursing and the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.) Highlighting the vision and mission of the two organizations, Malone inspired the crowd with her motivational message and passion for nursing education and research.

Beverly Malone

I had the good fortune to meet David B. Daniel, PhD, professor of psychology at James Madison University and speaker for the opening plenary, just before he delivered his inspiring and informative keynote address. I was immediately struck by his likeable personality, humor, wit, and engaging style. Those characteristics showed through as he took the stage and inspired a room filled with nurse educators and scholars eager to hear his address titled, “What evidence is evidence to guide quality teaching in nursing?”

David Daniel

Focusing on the intricacies of using research and evidence and applying them to “almost real life,” Daniel stressed the need for an integrative approach to the science of learning. Highlighting the disconnect between how we teach and what we teach—and how that contrasts with student priorities and preferences—he encouraged the audience to incorporate distributive practice in their teaching, which is to break course content into small parts and reinforce them over an extended period of time.

Many of today’s students, observed Daniel, are more focused on obtaining a degree and securing a job than on learning. They hope college will be fast, easy, and convenient and that it will lead to their desired result, which is to graduate and move into the workplace. Most teachers, on the other hand, are interested in helping students learn. The challenge, according to Daniel? “Give ‘em peas, and make it taste like ice cream.” Create experiences that promote learning, immersion in content, and ability to transfer learning into multiple settings.

We also learned that teaching is contextual, that there is no such thing as best practices in teaching. Rather than best practices, said Daniel, every practitioner—teacher—needs to apply what he calls promising principles into their learning environments. The most we will ever get from research, suggested Daniel, is an hypothesis for practice: We must try interventions and evaluate them on their merit and effectiveness.

To do that, Daniel offered a teaching model he has created. Based on the drug approval process used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it includes the following:

1)  Examine bench work in medicine and nursing.

2)  Develop a promising principle for teaching.

3)  Prove efficacy of promising principle using a target student population in a representative, but controlled, context.

4)  Design the promising principle for general use and fidelity for independent teacher use.

5)  Try the intervention in other representative contexts.

6)  Evaluate the intervention and its context using a cost-benefit analysis process.

7)  Disseminate the results.

8)  Monitor the intervention and its effectiveness over time.

The focus of Daniel’s promising-principle approach is on whether or not an intervention works—and in which context(s). A key takeaway from the session was the distributive-practice concept mentioned earlier: Identify a promising principle that encourages teachers to space out and repeat content over time in a strategic way to give student brains time to create and retain learning. In teaching, there is no prescriptive cookbook. Instead, as teachers, we need to capture ingredients and create a recipe—based on science—that works within the contexts of our unique teaching environments.

Following Daniel’s keynote address, attendees reviewed an amazing array of education research posters and roamed the exhibit hall. And who did Yours Truly find exploring the exhibits? Our very own STTI president, Cathy Catrambone, PhD, RN, FAAN!

Nurses and librarians have a lot in common

By Kimberly S. Thompson, MLS, Ruth Lilly e-Repository Manager, Virginia Henderson Global Nursing e-Repository

While interacting with nurses who come to the exhibit area and stop by the Virginia Henderson Global e-Repository table at the Nursing Education Research Conference, I am struck by their passion, enthusiasm, and collegiality. I have found this true of every STTI-hosted—in this case, co-hosted—event I have attended.

When I started my journey with the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International in January 2012 as manager of the Virginia Henderson Global Nursing e-Repository, I had past experience as both an attendee and presenter at such events. In my present role, my perspective as a staff member of an event host has allowed me a deeper glimpse of the inner workings of conferences and the motivations of conference attendees, and I have noticed many similarities between librarians (my chosen profession) and nurses (the profession I now assist). There is the obvious similarity: the majority of members of both professions are female. But it runs much deeper than that. Librarians and nurses are extremely passionate about and proud of their work. For them, it is not only what you do, but what you are. It’s not a job, but a profession.

Both professions require passion and dedication and are not typical 9-to-5 jobs. People who have chosen these careers feel they truly make a difference in peoples’ lives through service to others—librarians by locating and organizing resources, sharing essential knowledge, and assisting people in locating information, and nurses by improving lives of patients and their families through evidence-based practice, research, and patient advocacy. Members of both professions give of themselves to enhance the lives of others, and both are seeking to strengthen their voices and stand out as professionals worthy of consideration and respect.

As I enter into discussions and on-the-go training sessions in the exhibit area, I am proud, as a librarian, to serve the profession of nursing. Here’s to all of those who attend conference events to network, mentor, learn, and grow. I know I am not alone when I say I am looking forward to the next STTI event and the excitement that bubbles up as nurses interact with their colleagues.

In the conference exhibit area, Kimberly Thompson answers
questions about the Virginia Henderson Global Nursing e-Repository.

Monumental moments

By Norma Krumwiede, EdD, RN, associate professor of nursing, Minnesota State University Mankato, Mankato, Minnesota, USA

The meeting of nurse educators began at the airport as we made our way to Bethesda, Maryland for the 2016 Nursing Education Research Conference. The excitement of attending the sold-out conference was similar to waiting for a sold-out concert to begin. Even though nurse educators are rock stars, who knew that an academic-focused conference could be sold out?

One measure of a meaningful conference is information provided by presenters, and NERC 2016 is scoring high in that category. For example, Kelly Krumwiede, PhD, RN, appreciated the overview of Robert DeVellis’ eight steps to instrument development that Darrell Spurlock, Jr., PhD, RN, NEA-BC, ANEF, and Amy Wonder, PhD, RN, provided in their preconference workshop titled “Demystifying instrument development.”

Kelly Krumwiede starts her conference
day with a delightful French breakfast.

Stressing the importance of frequently revising research instruments and reestablishing their reliability and validity, Spurlock and Wonder challenged attendees to look outside of nursing literature to help advance nursing science.

Enthusiasm and inspiration are also essential dynamics of a successful nursing conference, and Sandra Eggenberger, PhD, RN, was so energized following the conclusion of a session she attended that it led to a 20-minute dinner conversation about use of nursing theory to guide student learning. Titled “Where does good research start?” the session focused on encouraging colleagues and students to take time to explore theory that guides research, education, and practice. Presented by Barbara Patterson, PhD, RN, ANEF, and Lisa Day, PhD, RN, CNE, it brought novice and experienced educators together from academic and practice settings to discuss the need to cultivate theoretical thinking to advance the discipline. One statement that resonated with Eggenberger was, “Sometimes we are so quick to find evidence that we forget to consider the theory needed to generate the question, explain the connections, and investigate prior theoretical foundations that would guide the direction.”

Sandra Eggenberger, Tricia Young, and Kristen
Abbott-Anderson the rainy streets of Bethesda, Maryland.

A session that Patricia “Tricia” Young, PhD, RN, attended also included an inspirational quote: “True leaders don’t create followers. They create more leaders.” Even though she had never heard this quote before, she found it interesting that it reflects the way she leads new faculty members to become teaching scholars and how nursing students become nurse leaders.

Another measure of whether or not a conference is successful is how well it advances an attendee’s ability to integrate or incorporate the information it provides—in this case, teaching-learning strategy—into one’s own setting. Young shared: “I am considering shifting a 10-page written paper assignment into a two-minute TED talk. Think of how much time it would save teachers in terms of grading, not to mention how much more fun it would be to listen to this assignment! The talks could easily be shared with many students, so all could benefit from an individual’s work.”

Kristen Abbott-Anderson, PhD, RN, attended a session titled “Launching and Sustaining a Career as a Teacher-scholar, presented by Pamela Ironside, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF.

“One gem I took away [from that session],” said Abbott-Anderson, “was the idea of having seven rocks on your desk, and for every hour of writing you do, you move a rock to the other side of the desk, so that by the end of the week, you have seven hours of writing in. This way, you are sure to get the writing in that you need to do each week.”

She plans to adopt this writing strategy when she returns home and will encourage other nurse educators to do the same. Whether you use rocks, stones, seashells or buttons, do whatever it takes to make the process of writing fun and visual.

What monumental moments are you experiencing while attending the Nursing Education Research Conference?


Nursing education research still evolving

By Mary Lou Bond, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF, FAAN, professor emerita and adjunct professor, The University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing

The 2016 Nursing Education Research Conference, the theme of which is “Research as a Catalyst for Transformative Practice,” is most appropriately co-sponsored by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) and the National League for Nursing (NLN). As two of the nation’s early nursing organizations, STTI, founded in 1922, and the National League for Nursing, founded in 1912, have joined together to support nurse researchers in advancing the science of nursing education in today’s increasingly global society and complex environments.

Although I have not been around to see all of this history, it has been my good fortune during my 48 years as a faculty member to report to two NLN presidents (Dr. Virginia Jarratt, and Anne Bavier, PhD, RN), be mentored by Billye J. Brown, EdD, RN, FAAN, past president of STTI, host Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN (CEO of NLN) at one of International Crossing Borders Conferences, sponsored by The University of Texas at Arlington’s Center for Hispanic Studies in Nursing and Health, and have Patricia Thompson, EdD, RN, FAAN (CEO of STTI) as a colleague and friend. This network of dedicated individuals from both organizations, together with opportunities I’ve had to study and work internationally in selected health and educational systems, have enriched my professional life. Fast forward to 2016!

Mary Lou Bond with Pamela Ironside
and Penny Huddleston.

Today’s nursing education system might be unrecognizable to some of our founders, but similarities are pervasive: patient safety (“do no harm”), caring, compassion, and commitment. Innovative teaching strategies, such as online courses, use of simulation, Twitter, and other social media demand evidence of desired outcomes, which has led to increased collaboration in interprofessional education, practice and research. NLN’s 2016-19 Research Priorities in Nursing Education address scholars who aim to provide a scientific and theoretical base for nursing education, research methodology, and education-practice links. The STTI/Chamberlain College of Nursing’s Center for Excellence in Nursing Education (CENE) supports efforts of nurse educators internationally as they join hands to promote excellence in education, research, and practice.

If you were unable to attend the NERC conference this year, I encourage you to keep the next one on your radar screen. As a lifelong learner, I am convinced that nursing education research has the capacity to validate and reform the way we prepare tomorrow’s nurse workforce.

Mary Lou Bond and President Cathy Catrambone.

Welcome to the 2016 Nursing Education Research Conference!

For most of the nearly 400 registrants attending the 2016 Nursing Education Research Conference (NERC) near Washington, D.C. this week, the half-hour journey from Reagan National Airport, located just across the Potomac from the nation’s capital, to the Hyatt Regency Bethesda, took them into two states—Virginia and Maryland—and, briefly, the District of Columbia. For some—scholars in nursing education, nursing school deans, administrators, and faculty members—the trip was one more step in a long journey in the pursuit of nursing education excellence. For others—nursing students—it was a beginning step toward a career in nursing education, a career replete with unknown destinations, but exciting in its unpredictability.

Sponsored by the National League for Nursing (NLN) and the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), and organized through the NLN/Chamberlain College of Nursing Center for the Advancement of the Science of Nursing Education, NERC always offers participants the opportunity to learn, collaborate, and network. And this year is no different. Focusing on the impact of educational research on clinical outcomes, the conference’s 2016 theme is “Research as a Catalyst for Transformative Practice.”

It all starts today—Thursday, 7 April—with four pre-conference workshops that explore launching and sustaining a successful career as a scholar-educator, and concludes on Saturday, the 9th. For those unable to attend—and for those who do—Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL) will highlight portions of the conference as seen through the eyes of some of those who are privileged to attend.

No matter which group you are part of, welcome to the 2016 Nursing Education Research Conference! I hope you return from time to time to see what has been posted.

— James Mattson, editor, Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL)

10 best things about being a nurse educator

1. Help shape the nurses who will have a positive impact on many patients, families, and other nurses long after the initial interaction.

2.  Contribute to the body of nursing knowledge.

3. Get inspired by nursing students every day.

4. Form unique bonds with students.

5. Change career path without changing career.

6. Be remembered by students long after shaping their careers.

7. Wear something other than scrubs to work.

8. Work emergencies that no longer "circle the drain."

9. Work hours that occur mainly during daylight.

10. Make the profession of nursing better.

— Karen Whitham, EdD, MSN, RN, CNE, assistant dean of undergraduate education at American Sentinel University, certified nurse educator, and member of STTI and NLN.