Other Titles
Cultural change: Providing necessary tools for improvement
Abstract
Session presented on Monday, September 19, 2016:
Nurse faculty may be unprepared to develop or evaluate curriculum, as this is not a part of usual practice (Anderson, 2009). Educators may be recruited from non-education roles, where they have excellent practice skills, but little or no experience developing curriculum or new courses. Education regarding curriculum received may be inconsistent. Faculty are often hired for expertise, rather than their educational preparation (Anderson, 2009; Hewitt, & Lewallen, 2010). Faculty entering academia can be practice experts, but novices at education. It is difficult to learn the role of curriculum evaluator without guidance, and new instructors often must learn the new skill in addition to new teaching roles, scholarship and other college service obligations. This can lead to stress (Weidman, 2013). Original constructivist grounded theory research was conducted on 15 nurse faculty members in Vermont from four colleges resulting in seven themes. These themes were used to develop a middle range descriptive theory Challenged and Overwhelmed. The concepts: lack of confidence, overload and inadequate time, lack of knowledge and development, poor support and communication, and the need for mentorship experienced by the educator becoming challenged were examined. Understanding was clarified regarding what educators are facing in academia and the resulting sense of an onslaught of overwhelming challenges. Each of these five areas where critical needs are lacking, separately are difficult and can cause distress, but the combination of five factors leads to an educator becoming more likely to be overwhelmed by the multitude of challenges. Together the understanding gained from faculty descriptors and the recommended strategies of faculty were used to develop a model of understanding: Supported and Empowered. The model depicts how the five strategy areas: education, mentoring, practice, time, and collaboration and feedback act to fortify the challenges affecting the educator. Experienced educators shared strategies that enabled them to learn their role, and provided tips for other educators and leaders. Overload and inadequate time, low confidence, the need for mentoring, and lack of knowledge related to curriculum, and poor support and communication can become collaborative support and communication, knowledge related to curriculum, paired mentoring, designated time, and increasing confidence when recommended strategies are applied. This session will discuss how to apply the model in academia. It can be used to reduce the feelings of faculty feeling like they are drowning without support, by providing useful strategies regarding curriculum. It will provide strategies for administrators to provide a bridge between practice and academia. It will also provide help for faculty in the trenches.
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Lead Author Affiliation
Vermont Technical College, Williston, Vermont, USA
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Curriculum, Faculty, Academia
Recommended Citation
Roberts, Meredith L., "Applying the model supported and empowered to support faculty's growth and competence in curriculum" (2024). Leadership. 12.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/leadership/2016/presentations/12
Conference Name
Leadership Connection 2016
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2016
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Applying the model supported and empowered to support faculty's growth and competence in curriculum
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Session presented on Monday, September 19, 2016:
Nurse faculty may be unprepared to develop or evaluate curriculum, as this is not a part of usual practice (Anderson, 2009). Educators may be recruited from non-education roles, where they have excellent practice skills, but little or no experience developing curriculum or new courses. Education regarding curriculum received may be inconsistent. Faculty are often hired for expertise, rather than their educational preparation (Anderson, 2009; Hewitt, & Lewallen, 2010). Faculty entering academia can be practice experts, but novices at education. It is difficult to learn the role of curriculum evaluator without guidance, and new instructors often must learn the new skill in addition to new teaching roles, scholarship and other college service obligations. This can lead to stress (Weidman, 2013). Original constructivist grounded theory research was conducted on 15 nurse faculty members in Vermont from four colleges resulting in seven themes. These themes were used to develop a middle range descriptive theory Challenged and Overwhelmed. The concepts: lack of confidence, overload and inadequate time, lack of knowledge and development, poor support and communication, and the need for mentorship experienced by the educator becoming challenged were examined. Understanding was clarified regarding what educators are facing in academia and the resulting sense of an onslaught of overwhelming challenges. Each of these five areas where critical needs are lacking, separately are difficult and can cause distress, but the combination of five factors leads to an educator becoming more likely to be overwhelmed by the multitude of challenges. Together the understanding gained from faculty descriptors and the recommended strategies of faculty were used to develop a model of understanding: Supported and Empowered. The model depicts how the five strategy areas: education, mentoring, practice, time, and collaboration and feedback act to fortify the challenges affecting the educator. Experienced educators shared strategies that enabled them to learn their role, and provided tips for other educators and leaders. Overload and inadequate time, low confidence, the need for mentoring, and lack of knowledge related to curriculum, and poor support and communication can become collaborative support and communication, knowledge related to curriculum, paired mentoring, designated time, and increasing confidence when recommended strategies are applied. This session will discuss how to apply the model in academia. It can be used to reduce the feelings of faculty feeling like they are drowning without support, by providing useful strategies regarding curriculum. It will provide strategies for administrators to provide a bridge between practice and academia. It will also provide help for faculty in the trenches.