January 23, 2019 | NLN CEO Update on Training the New Era of Nurse Educators

On Monday, NLN President Dr. Rumay Alexander joined me in honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King with a message commemorating his views on education. It is hard for me to fathom that for many of you, Dr. King is a historical figure, while for those of us of a certain age, his presence was personal. Now, during this contentious time, Dr. King’s life remains an inspiration, and his words continue to resonate. In our message, we chose to remember his words about education: “The function … is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically,” with the ultimate goal being “intelligence plus character.” How very true for nursing education.

At the NLN, we think a lot about finding ways to develop clinical decision-making and clinical judgment as well as critical thinking in nursing students. It is clear that we can no longer teach the way we were taught and that new models for teaching and learning are needed, but to find our way in the contemporary nursing education environment is challenging. All faculty — those new to the academic nurse educator environment and experienced faculty who want to try something new — benefit from mentoring and guidance. For all of you, we have a brand new faculty development program: Contemporary Teaching in This New Era of Nursing Education: NLN Faculty Intensives 2019. The program will take place June 3-7 at the NLN in Washington, DC, and a full description with registration materials will be available online later this month.

Contemporary Teaching is designed as a series of daylong interactive workshops led by expert guides. Dr. Susan Forneris, director of the NLN Center for Innovation in Simulation and Technology, along with other expert faculty will use Critical Conversations: The NLN Guide for Teaching Thinking to facilitate all workshops. You can choose to take part in all workshops over the five days or select the workshops that are most important to you. Here is a brief outline of what you can expect.

Ideally, you will be part of a small team of colleagues for the first day of the program, “Demystifying the Curriculum Map.” This workshop will help you analyze your institution’s program of study and/or curriculum and systematically integrate active learning strategies to align with program and learning outcomes. Along with Sue, your guide for the first day will be Molly Kellgren, manager, NLN Accelerating to Practice. Molly is a former assistant professor of nursing at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Day 2, “Teaching Thinking,” is based on the premise that good teaching leads the learner to know the content while great teaching guides the learner to use the content. Joining Sue for this workshop are Amy Kline, manager of simulation and technology for the NLN and former simulation educator, Children's Hospital and Clinics, Minneapolis; Dr. Rachel Onello, nurse educator consultant and adjunct faculty at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore; and Michelle Moulton, clinical instructor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore. They will use The NLN Guide for Teaching Thinking to help you develop and practice solid classroom and clinical techniques and consider aspects of the teacher-learner relationship that can influence your use of critical conversations across learning environments. Day 3 will focus on the metacognition and the science of learning with Rachel and Michelle, and Day 4 will focus on assessment and evaluation, with Dr. Leann Furby, director of NLN Testing Services.

Day 5, designed as a capstone for the series, will address the many complexities involved in the advanced specialty role of the academic nurse educator. You know what they are: the faculty shortage; the promotion of diversity, inclusivity, and civility; policies governing student confidentiality and rights and responsibilities; and the changing health care system and contemporary clinical practice. Sue will be joined by NLN chief program officer Dr. Janice Brewington, former chief program officer Dr. Elaine Tagliareni, and Dr. Karen Pardue, dean of Westbrook College of Health Professions at the University of New England, in helping you develop an understanding of how to empower students and fellow faculty to promote collegial dialogue, innovation, and educational excellence, all within the art and science of nursing education.

I am so pleased with the design of this program, but let’s take a short breath and move on to the next faculty-focused initiative. On June 8-9, just after the Faculty Intensive, the NLN office will welcome 12 attendees for the Summer 2019 Scholarly Writing Retreat, a highly respected NLN program that has been helping nurse educators publish in peer-reviewed journals since 2008. This is not just a workshop. Rather, it is a yearlong mentoring program that takes you through all steps of the publication process — from selecting the right journal to writing an outline and draft, to fine-tuning your manuscript so that it is ready for submission, to revising your manuscript and resubmitting it as needed. For the June 2019 retreat, your faculty will be Dr. Marilyn Oermann of Duke University, editor-in-chief of Nurse Educator and Journal of Nursing Care Quality and author of Writing for Publication in Nursing (Springer), along with Leslie Block, managing editor of the NLN research journal Nursing Education Perspectives. The application period closes on February 15. If you have completed a research study or innovative project but need help writing for publication, be sure to apply.

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Next Issue of the NLN Member Update: Wednesday, February 6, 2019. View previous issues of NLN Member Update »