Interview summary by Rachel Goodliffe, Teaching and Learning Faculty Developer, Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation
NIC’s Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation staff conduct interviews with instructors to explore the perspectives and insights they have about quality teaching and learning. NIC embraces the diversity of approaches each instructor takes as they cultivate a supportive environment tailored to their program and student needs. These interviews share how North Island College is making quality student learning a priority.
Jan is a Registered Nurse with extensive experience in surgical nursing.
Jan has worked in the BSN program (theory, lab, and practice courses) and in advisor and chair positions. Jan is currently the Associate Dean (Health and Human Services).
Question 1: What does quality student learning mean to you?
Quality learning means that students are satisfied. Students identify that they are learning using different ways which might be asking questions, appearing curious, and seeking more information. Quality student learning means applying the knowledge that they have in different situations. For example, in nursing, that may be in the lab or during clinical practice. Also, quality learning means that they are engaged and enjoying the learning – that they are having an enjoyable time in a positive environment. That they will have fun! If students are worried about being judged, this is detrimental to their learning. They will not absorb material. So, I try to make it fun!
Question 2: Share a time when you made a meaningful change in your teaching practice and why?
I introduced the unfolding case study (UFCS) pedagogy along with Martha Russell (previous instructor), to the learning center (lab) in the BSN program. To be clear, we were not the initial creators of this idea. This pedagogy was already happening in nursing education but in the context of a theory class. Martha and I developed this idea for the lab to enhance student ability with psychomotor skill application. Martha and I observed through our teaching that students were learning skills in isolation and with no context for skill application in the real world of healthcare. We also realized there were skills that they did not know why they were doing them. Students were lacking the context of a person and a situation. We had to identify a way for the students to focus on the principles and see the skill within the context of nursing care, nursing practice, and provision of quality care.
We developed the story of “Harry” for students to understand the flow of a patient in the hospital. Students make their assessment of “Harry” each week and they must decide what kind of intervention to incorporate. “Harry’s” health challenges match up with the student schedule for the skills that students are learning that week. If “Harry” had pain when the students assessed him for example, then the student might have to administer oral Tylenol. That coincided with students learning how to administer medications that week except the difference now is that the medications they were giving (like Tylenol) were all related to their patient – “Harry.”
The story of “Harry” helped students to understand the flow of the patient in the hospital as well as simulation and assessment. Information provided to students about “Harry” is sometimes incomplete, and this helps students to develop decision making skills. In summary, students learn what to assess before something happens, this supports their decision making and application of knowledge, then they learn the skill that relates to this and then assess the efficacy of the skill and adapt where necessary. They understand the flow of quality nursing practice and incorporation of the knowledge to guide the skill – it is not just step 1, 2, 3.
Question 3: How do you adapt your teaching practice to drive quality learning for diverse students?
I think there’s always evidence -informed practice. Always look to what the evidence says. What can I do better? The most recent thing I did is move all the lab courses to ungraded courses so that they are entirely mastery-based. I wanted students to be able to focus on what it is they needed to know and not just focused on getting an A+. Nursing students have a focus on achieving high success, so I wanted them to concentrate on how to provide quality, safe care, to use assessment and knowledge to guide their practice and evaluate their decision making.
Question 4: Does building a cohesive classroom environment resonate with you? Why?
Absolutely it does because this is a learning experience. They have all sorts of life events and life stories and things that have happened. When I am in practice with students, I encourage them to look at their patients from a health promotion lens – find out what your person knows, and then validate or build upon that and I think it should be the same in the classroom. I will ask: What do you folks know about this? Who has had experience with this? What was it like for you? However, be ready to manage if it might go sideways too. I am sure that we have all had students who have had a tough time with something and so be ready for what is coming at you. I do not get shocked that often, and experience has helped me manage classroom situations. Also, if I do not know an answer to a question asked by a student, I will not stand up and try to make something up. I want the information provided to be truthful. I find it disrespectful to not be truthful with the class. This demonstrates good behavior which contributes to a cohesive learning environment.
Question 5: If we walked into your classroom and students were engaged and actively learning, what would that look like?
If we are in the SIM lab or in the lab, you would see groups at the bedside. I would be at one of the bedsides with students and we would look engaged doing whatever skill it was. There would be chatter, there would be energy in the room. There might be laughter because there are a lot of funny things that can happen. There would be conversations happening. I might be talking to a group, but I would look around to see if somebody else looks like they are searching for me. There would be lots going on, but people would be relaxed and enjoying the learning experience. Even in a theory class, if it were a small group activity, there would be conversations happening at the tables. There would be sharing of ideas as I move around the classroom. I do not stand in one place in the classroom.
Question 6: In what ways do you integrate technology to support student learning?
We use an annotation video technology called Wevu. Students videorecord their psychomotor skills for assessment. Part of this assessment is the need to go back and self-critique the video. There is a lot of literature about the value of self-critiquing skills in nursing. Students may think they are doing something right and then they watch themselves. They suddenly realize, oh, I’m not following the principles, so the self-critique is where the learning occurs as much as performing the skill itself. I like to use this process to point out something that students have done well also and that might be at the end. I will ask them how do you think that looked? And if you were the patient, would that feel comfortable for you? So, the self-evaluation process supports a dialogue between me and the student. As well, because students must practice the skill over and over before they submit the video, this lends itself to mastery and deliberate practice.
Question 7: What is a favourite learning technology resource that you have used in your teaching? Why?
This speaks to the previous conversation, but another example might be the CPR mannikins – because this also aligns with evidence informed practice in the first semester of the BSN program and encourages practice with this important skill. The CPR mannequins have a Bluetooth app that students can get on their phone and so they get feedback whether they are with somebody else or just on their own. Students get feedback about their chest compressions and if they are effective. I share an article about getting feedback in the first week. Through a class discussion they come to understand that through this entire program they are going to be getting feedback. The article is about deliberate practice, feedback, and focuses on CPR. The piece that brings it home for students is that the article identifies those 2 minutes of CPR practice in a month increases efficacy exponentially of CPR, and so they are all keen to do this. So, students learn the importance of practice and feedback early on in this program.
Question 8: Choose one person who has influenced you in your teaching career? Why did you choose them and what are some of their characteristics that you work to embody?
I chose Martha Russell because she and I developed the unfolding case study strategy. Martha and I heard about this practice at a conference and thought this was a clever idea. It took lots of work to develop the strategy from creating a story and developing appropriate documentation. We also amended forms from Island Health to reflect what students will see in practice (e.g., lab results, x rays, pictures, …). I appreciated Martha’s enthusiasm to keep going despite the demanding work.
Question 9: What inspires you to keep growing as a teacher?
I love students. I love their enthusiasm. I love seeing them get it and seeing them find their confidence. I love when students come back from being in practice and describe an experience that they were involved in and end up saying, “it was just like in the lab!” I love to hear those stories about how they have consolidated their learning through practical experiences. Also, the new ways in which we can support our learners. AI comes to mind. There are ways that we can use things like AI to help students develop in diverse ways. For example, I watched as somebody asked ChatGPT about “reflective practice on a day on a maternity unit” and it typed this beautiful reflection. Students can use this to support their reflective writing skills, in addition to some of the evaluation documents and criteria required in the BSN program. Students could compare what AI produced against their own work to encourage growth or compare to identify differences between reality (their personal experience) and AI.
There are all sorts of new ideas to support student learning. There are many new ideas to show students what to expect in practice. Some of the ways that we mockup experiences in lab to make things as realistic as possible. I am also inspired by seeing the students out in practice just rocking it or listening to the Calling All Nurses podcast (produced by ex-faculty) and hearing all the amazing things that our graduates have done and just being so in awe of how far they’re taking this profession and how amazing they are for our communities.
Question 10: How do you encourage student curiosity and motivation?
By modelling, asking questions, looking for new ways to do things, self-critique, and laughing when I make errors. I made some teaching videos for labs based on evidence to show students what the skill will look like, because sometimes you cannot grasp the idea when reading a book. Students are asked to make and submit videos to demonstrate how they are performing skills – but they get nervous. Here I share my stories of what happened when I made the videos for them – such as dropping equipment when being videoed because I was also nervous.
I also tell stories about decision making. I share the good decisions and bad decisions I have made because I think there’s learning in both and what you can take forward. I think the ultimate piece that I want them to leave this program with is not a particular set of skills but rather engagement as lifelong learners. I do not want them to take things for granted. They are entering a profession where things are ever changing, so they must figure out how to stay afloat. I want them to be part of the healthcare solution.