Centers of Excellence in Nursing EducationTM
2006 Designees
Three outstanding schools of nursing were recognized as NLN Centers
of Excellence in Nursing Education during the Business Meeting, held
on September 30, 2006 in New York City. The Business Meeting is part
of NLN’s annual Education Summit. The University of Oklahoma
College of Nursing was recognized for its sustained efforts to create
environments that promote student learning and professional development.
The Indiana University School of Nursing was acknowledged for their
continuous efforts to promote the pedagogical expertise of faculty.
And for the first time, Center of Excellence designation was awarded
to a school for their sustained efforts to advance the science of
nursing education. The recipient in this category was the Blessing-Rieman
College of Nursing. NLN president Toni Bargagliotti and NLN CEO Ruth
Corcoran presented each school with a framed certificate, and all
full-time faculty at each school received an attractive Center of
Excellence School pin.
Student Category
University
of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma College of Nursing builds its teaching/learning
environment on what faculty refer to as “the four Cs:”
caring, critical thinking, communication, and citizenship. These elements
are evident in both the baccalaureate and master’s programs,
as faculty provide flexibility and choice in order to empower the
more than 1,000 nursing students to individualize their learning,
develop their creativity, and assume responsibility for providing
leadership in nursing and health care. Students at the University
of Oklahoma College of Nursing are actively engaged in the community
through extensive and innovative service-based learning activities.
As a leader in online distance education, the school brings together
a diverse group of learners through its outreach to students both
in and out of state. This student diversity, the community outreach
efforts, and the strong partnerships with a wide range of community
agencies are effective in developing what the College of Nursing refers
to as “the next generation of health care leaders.” The
expressed vision of the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing
is excellence in nursing, and the school’s tagline is “Sooner
Nursing: Integrity, Compassion, Excellence.” It is evident that
the faculty live these concepts as they and students engage as active
partners in the academic enterprise, and this is a primary reason
why the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing has been named an
NLN Center of Excellence in Nursing Education.
Faculty Category
Indiana
University
There is no question that the Indiana University School of Nursing
is most deserving of recognition as a Center of Excellence for their
sustained efforts related to advancing the pedagogical expertise of
faculty. This group of more than 100 full-time faculty are nationally-
and internationally-recognized for their expertise in developing creative,
interactive pedagogies that promote excellence in nursing education,
including web-based learning, problem-based learning, narrative pedagogy,
and use of simulation technology. Recognizing that nurse educators
must be involved in life-long learning and development, the IU School
of Nursing faculty have created a series of online nurse educator
courses designed to improve educator competencies. Faculty at the
school benefit from these courses, as does a global audience of nurse
educators. In addition, there is widespread mentoring among faculty,
extensive support for participation in conferences and workshops related
to teaching and learning, and dialogue with experts who are brought
to campus to discuss innovations in teaching and new directions for
nursing education. The faculty are actively engaged in creating a
preferred future for nursing education, and many are recognized as
leaders in the field. As the result of a clear plan for ongoing faculty
development, the Indiana University School of Nursing has developed
an empowering, collaborative, and creative learning environment for
both students and faculty. And despite this being a major research
institution, there is enormous support for the scholarship of teaching
and recognition of teaching excellence as a means by which faculty
can achieve promotion and tenure. Most recently, the School of Nursing
implemented the Center for Excellence in Nursing Education Research
to facilitate the development of evidence-based teaching practices
and the pedagogical research skills of faculty. The Indiana University
School of Nursing is seen as a model for excellence related to promoting
the pedagogical expertise of faculty, and the National League for
Nursing is honored to name it as a Center of Excellence.
Science of Nursing Education Category
Blessing-Rieman
College of Nursing
Blessing-Rieman is a small school that offers a baccalaureate program.
It enrolls approximately 300 nursing students who are taught by 14
full-time faculty. And it is not a research institution. Yet these
14 faculty have created an environment where teaching, evaluation,
and other educational practices are evidence-based … and where
all faculty are contributing to the advancement of the science of
nursing education. For more than five years, the faculty have participated
in a national research study using narrative pedagogy. As a result
of this participation, they have changed the way they teach, the way
they relate to and interact with students, the structures and processes
that are in place for “getting the work done,” and the
value they place on evidence-based teaching practices. Faculty and
students interact in an environment where the following collective
values are evident: professional and scholarly development, safe risk
taking, experimentation, putting energies into problem solving rather
than blaming, respecting and helping one another, and celebrating
with one another. Faculty and students alike approach clinical and
learning situations with a spirit of inquiry, and they collaborate
with each other … as well as with alumni and community leaders
… to create a professional culture that supports the use and
conduct of research and makes research “real” for students.
This environment is open to community reflective scholarship, supports
diverse research methodologies, and eagerly embraces evidence-based
change that continually raises the quality of education. While many
may assume that recognition for contributions related to scholarship
would be given to nursing schools housed in research institutions,
where there is a large cadre of researchers with extensive external
funding, the Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing challenges those assumptions.
The National League for Nursing is honored to recognize the Blessing-Rieman
College of Nursing for its sustained achievements in creating environments
that advance the science of nursing education, and we are pleased
to name them as an NLN Center of Excellence in Nursing Education.
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