Category: Student Engagement

Teaching Online: What Have We Learned from the Pandemic?

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

As the 2021 fall term begins in nursing programs around the country, stopping to reflect upon the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic seems wise. Likely we would all agree that teaching nursing students during a pandemic was as great a challenge as most of us have ever experienced. Turning on a dime, nursing faculty moved fully to online instruction—sometimes even for clinical experiences. Continue reading “Teaching Online: What Have We Learned from the Pandemic?”

Improving Engagement in Synchronous Online Learning

This blog explores the importance of engagement and focuses on some instructional concepts and approaches that can be utilized within a Zoom environment to expand engagement.

By Andrew Bobal, EdD

Today’s instruction in a COVID world is drastically different than it was just twelve months ago. Courses and programs that were never taught online have been thrust into the online world without choice; this is true for instructors as well. One the biggest hurdles with online synchronous Continue reading “Improving Engagement in Synchronous Online Learning”

Online Learning: Creating a Caring Environment that Encourages Critical Thinking

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

The impact of the coronavirus is being felt everywhere.  As I write this, schools, colleges, and universities across the country are temporarily closed and planning to move classes to online instruction when they reopen. For faculty in nursing programs, this directive is manageable, as many face-to-face courses involve some level of interaction online. However, as I talk to faculty from across the country, I hear concerns regarding the loss of a caring learning environment among students and faculty in courses delivered only online. I also hear concerns that implementing teaching-learning strategies to stimulate critical thinking is more difficult in an online environment that in face-to-face instruction. Perhaps during this national emergency it would be helpful for all of us to think about “best practices” for online instruction, particularly those that involve creating a caring environment that encourages critical thinking. Continue reading “Online Learning: Creating a Caring Environment that Encourages Critical Thinking”

Student Strategies to Get the Most Out of an Online Class

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Online courses provide you the convenience of being able to learn whenever, wherever, and however works best for you. However, challenges often arise in online education, which require student preparation to ensure success. Develop the following skills to flourish in online education. Continue reading “Student Strategies to Get the Most Out of an Online Class”

W.A.I.T.: Impact on Teaching Clinical Judgment

by Susan Sportsman, RN, PhD, ANEF, FAAN

After being a faculty for many years, I find that I often want to “instruct” my family and friends. This urge is particularly prevalent with my husband. Being a very nice man, when I begin to “instruct” him, he appears to be listening (he looks my way), but the look in his eyes says very clearly,  “I have no intention of doing whatever it is that she is saying.” When I see this look, I always say, “W.A.I.T.—Why Am I Talking?” Continue reading “W.A.I.T.: Impact on Teaching Clinical Judgment”

Student Engagement and the Brain

By Susan Sportsman, RN, PhD, ANEF, FAAN

An idea gaining momentum in nursing education over the last decade or so suggests that student engagement promotes success in school, on the NCLEX examination, and ultimately in practice. In response to the resulting “Flipping the Classroom” mantra, most of us have instituted some level of active learning into our classrooms as a means of encouraging student engagement. Despite grumbling from some students (“Why do we have to teach ourselves?”), these approaches have often seemed effective—at least for many students.

As I talk to faculty from across the country, I hear Continue reading “Student Engagement and the Brain”

The Engaged Student: Reading with Purpose

by Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Educational research has consistently found that if students are engaged in the learning process, they are more likely to be successful in developing the identified competencies. For the last 10 years or so, nursing educators have Continue reading “The Engaged Student: Reading with Purpose”