2021
The NLN remains the leader in nursing education.
Member engagement continues to be our strength and our most valuable commodity. Thank you to the thousands of nurse educators involved with the NLN. You are the backbone of our work to bring essential resources to all our members who teach in programs across the academic spectrum.
The NLN Centers have been extraordinarily busy. The partnership between the NLN and Chamberlain continues successfully with the NLN / Chamberlain University School of Nursing Center for the Advancement of the Science of Nursing Education. Within that Center, the NLN Research Review Panel approved NLN Foundation awards and two NLN doctoral student awards for a total amount awarded of $86,500.
Two publications will be released for Summit 2021. The first publication, Achieving Distinction in Nursing Education, edited by Drs. Marsha Adams and Terry Valiga, is a follow-up to their first book, Achieving Excellence in Nursing Education. The second publication edited by Dr. Pamela Jeffries is The NLN Jeffries Simulation Theory, 2nd edition. Both are available for purchase in the NLN bookstore.
Plus, a special themed issue on workforce issues in the NLN’s Nursing Education Perspectives, the NEP, will be distributed at the Summit as well as made available online at NEPonline.net. A call for manuscripts for the 2022 special issue remains open until January 2022. This special issue is focused on educating during times of crisis, September / October 2022. The 2023 special issue will focus on diversity and inclusiveness in nursing education; advertising for that issue is already underway. The 2021 Summit special issue of the NEP addresses workforce issues with editors Drs. Lynn Lew Allen and Elizabeth Van Horn. The 2022 special issue will focus on Educating During Times of Crisis with co-editors Drs. Karen Frith, Audrey Beauvais, and Linda Roney. Planning is underway for the 2023 special issue, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Nursing Education. The co-editors for the 2023 issue are Dr. Steven Palotso, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Dr. Sandra Davis, NLN; and Dr. Cheryl Green, Southern Connecticut University. We have outstanding experts who serve on the NEP editorial board.
The Jonas Philanthropies has approved an $80,000 grant over two years to the NLN to support eight NLN / Jonas PhD Scholars. The 11th cohort of four NLN / Jonas Scholars were selected from diverse doctoral nursing programs, University of Nevada — Las Vegas, Villanova University, Widener University, and the University of Northern Colorado.
Colleagues, planning is underway for the Nursing Education Research Conference, or NERC, in Washington, DC, 2023, sponsored by the NLN.
Moving on to the Center for Transformational Leadership NLN Leadership Institute, there are 22 participants in the yearlong NLN LEAD Program. Both the LEAD and the Leadership Development Program for Simulation Educators are celebrating their 10 year anniversary. This is quite an accomplishment. The application deadline for the 2022 cohort for the NLN Leadership Programs is October 4.
The Center has been very productive this year, awarding several grants this year. The NLN has 11 Historically Black Colleges and Universities nursing programs participating in some of these grant programs. The NLN / Walden University College of Nursing Institute for Social Determinants of Health and Social Change: This is a new, innovative, and timely Institute. A deputy director, Dr. Sandra Davis, has been hired.
NLN / Johnson and Johnson Project: Transitioning Senior Nursing Students in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and into Clinical Practice.
NLN/Elsevier Foundation Project: Advancing Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Schools of Nursing through Innovation in Technology and Teaching Excellence: This project is in collaboration with the NLN Division for Innovation in Education Excellence.
NLN Taking Aim Initiative on Structural Racism, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Implicit Bias, funded by AMN Healthcare and Elsevier Education and Health.
There have been several successes for the NLN’s public policy and advocacy; for example, funding for Title VIII Nursing Workforce. The Public Policy Priorities for 2021 – 2022 were developed and disseminated.
The NLN is also conducting surveys, including the NLN Schools of Nursing Survey. Many thanks to everyone who took the time to complete any of these surveys because the data is so important for dissemination to policy makers, funders, accreditation agencies, and regulators. In 2022, the NLN Schools of Nursing Survey and the Faculty Census Survey will be combined and one survey instead of two surveys will be conducted annually.
I can also report that the NLN Certification Department continues to offer both the CNE and CNEcl certifications for academic nurse educators. Since 2005, over 11,500 academic nurse educators have earned the credential of Certified Nurse Educator, or CNE. This credential measures excellence as an academic nurse educator, practicing in the full scope of the role. During the past 12 months, 714 certified nurse educators were added to the certification roster.
In recognition of the thousands of academic nurse educators, who practice as a clinical educator only, or adjunct, or preceptor, or one of the other titles referring to the same role of teaching students during clinical experiences, a second academic nurse educator certification exam was created three years ago. During the past 12 months, 140 certified clinical nurse educators were added for a new total of 475 certified clinical nurse educators.
We are very excited to announce the soon-to-be addition of a third certification exam, the CNEn, which stands for “Certified Nurse Educator – Novice.” This exam was built upon the newly identified competencies and leveled to fit the functions and role of the nurse educator new to the practice of nursing education. The target group is nurse educators with less than three years of experience in the role. The anticipated launch date is set to occur in October of this year.
And now for an update on Enterprise Development. NLN’s newly formed Enterprise Development area, comprised of an Assessment Services Division and a Division for Innovation in Education Excellence, is laser-focused on executing NLN’s mission-aligned business model. The NLN, the first nursing organization in the U.S. to offer assessments, has a rich portfolio of exams through Assessment Services that addresses a full range of nursing school testing needs – from admissions to in-course and for-credit bridge program exams to NCLEX review and Nurse in Practice exams.
The Division’s expert assessment development committees are creating and refining test items for existing exams as well as for our exciting new Learning Checkup Exam (LCE) Series. These low-stakes exam offerings will assess student progress in various topic areas throughout the nursing program while assisting faculty with outcomes assessment and evaluation of their educational programs; informing curriculum adjustments; and even facilitating remediation.
Flexibility in test administration also remains a priority to address the evolving test scheduling challenges of our schools.
Our model allows for seamless testing on campus, by remote, or a combination to address the variety of scenarios. The goal is to provide the best uninterrupted quality assessment services available today.
Next, Dr. Michelle Moulton has joined us as senior manager in the Enterprise’s Division for Innovation in Education Excellence. Michelle comes to us from the University of Maryland, School of Nursing, in Baltimore. Her specialty areas in nursing education include experiential teaching-learning strategies, simulation, curriculum integration, teaching thinking, and debriefing.
In addition, the Division has engaged Dr. Jenny O’Rourke – a project consultant to focus on our Coaching for Excellence on-demand course who will be involved in reimagining our Simulation Innovation Resource Center (SIRC) courses and faculty development simulation education offerings.
This has also been another action-packed and successful year for the NLN's communications and marketing outreach and graphics materials. Although they have a hand in virtually everything we do, here is an update about one of their biggest projects this year.
Colleagues, the NLN will be entering the modern age with the relaunch of our website, NLN.org. The new website will
• Provide an easy, effective, and useful experience on all devices
We would also like to inform you that the NLN on September 8 began operating a 4-day week, Monday to Thursday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This is a pilot, and it will be reviewed by the end of the year to determine its viability on making it permanent. We were aware that some exceptions would arise, and those few exceptions were permitted to stay on a five-day week schedule. Although we have returned back to our offices, due to COVID-19, it is every other week with half of our staff at the office and the other half working from home. Most staff members will be on-site for eight days a month.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented pain, grief, and destruction to the health and well-being of our nation’s citizens and economy. Thus far there have close to 49 million confirmed cases in the U.S. that have resulted in over 600,000 deaths. The health care professionals on the front lines of this pandemic have been stretched beyond their limits. Our thanks and appreciation to all essential workers. We are saving lives every day.
Although online education is nothing new, the NLN has been trying to get faculty to get back to some of the basics on good teaching by focusing on student learning outcomes and teaching and learning strategies that assist in achieving the specific learning objectives being sought. This may mean, for example, designing tighter lesson plans; providing more opportunity to engage learners in remote activities that have them solving problems; and using the content and working together, with the educator “guiding” those conversations.
Expanding on our popular Taking Aim webinar series this spring, the NLN has designed three new and upcoming webinars that focus on just that: how educators have used good teaching and learning around the domains of cognitive, psychosocial, and affective, and transformed their online classrooms. Visit NLN.org and just click on the Coronavirus Resource Center. You can find previous Taking Aim webinars there—free for download too