Role of the Nurse Educator in Various Settings
Nurse educators are role models of efficient patient-centered care, offer support to patients, share their proficiency in healthcare, and facilitate novel nurses to become knowledgeable and experienced caregivers. The National League of Nursing (NLN) key competencies define the educator practices’ scope and function as an evidence-based outline for curricular plans and proposals in lineups that prepare nurse educators.
Nursing and learning theories are applied in nursing education because they guide and describe nursing care and offer the groundwork for clinical decision-making. This essay highlights the difference between a traditional faculty role versus the online faculty role, the National League of Nursing\’S (NLN) nurse educator competencies, and the application of nursing and learning theories to nursing education. It also discusses a research study that uses an educational approach in a nursing education study.
The Difference Between a Traditional Faculty Role Versus the Online Faculty Role, How the Expectations Differ for Each Role, and Competencies Required Be Successful in Each Role
Online faculty role is characterized by decentralization (lack of place unity), asynchronicity (lack of time unity), and electronically facilitated communication and interaction. The fundamentals of online and traditional faculty roles are similar, excluding the unity of place and time elements. The conventional faculty role entails face-to-face learning, while the online faculty role involves e-learning. T
he traditional faculty role involves communication and interaction and non-verbal communication encompassing gestures, facial expressions, and posture. The nurse educator and student communication are mediated electronically in the online faculty role. The online faculty role permits individualization of educational material and uses advanced, interactive techniques in an information-rich environment (McDonald, Boulton & Davis, 2018).
The study materials must be completely ready before a course commences because they must be available for all scholars at any time during a lesson (McDonald, Boulton & Davis, 2018). A major advantage of the online faculty role lies in its decentralized and asynchronous nature, providing flexibility in location and time of learning. Unlike the traditional faculty role, scholars can proceed at their speed, reducing the available learning time.
The expectations between the traditional faculty role and the online faculty role differ. The conventional faculty role necessitates personal communication and interaction between the scholar and instructor. Further, the nursing educator’s role is three-fold: clinician, scholar, and sage (McDonald, Boulton & Davis, 2018). The traditional faculty function is completed through societal engagement in nursing or continuous nursing practice (McDonald, Boulton & Davis, 2018).
Contrary, the online faculty role necessitates an electronically facilitated communication and interaction between the student and educator. Recent information and communication technologies (ICTs) have infused and replaced lecture halls, classrooms, libraries, and skill labs. The traditional faculty role necessitates learning spaces, including classrooms, while the online faculty role relies heavily on it.
To succeed in an online faculty role, I must have technical competency involving acquaintance with essential software and hardware and didactical aptitude for designing materials appropriate for autonomous online education. The educator should also be competent in simplifying asynchronous learning procedures, utilizing innovative teaching techniques, and anticipating scholar requirements (McDonald, Boulton & Davis, 2018).
Other vital competencies include the aptitude to plan a teaching attendance in the virtual classroom, facilitate asynchronous communication and collaboration, and formulate a learning community in the simulated classroom. An online faculty role requires a high degree of organization, discipline, self-will, and self-discipline. The traditional faculty role necessitates proficiencies in instructional delivery, classroom management, personal competencies, and formative valuation.
The position also requires effective interactions with scholars, the formation of a learning environment, competencies in designing lessons, using diverse teaching strategies, and using verbal and non-verbal cues. The traditional and online faculty roles assist scholars in attaining cognitive learning objectives.
Referring To the National League of Nursing\’S (NLN) Nurse Educator Competencies, Choose One Competency and Describe How You Will Achieve This Competency in Your Nurse Educator Role
The National League of Nursing (NLN) key competencies define the educator practices’ scope and function as an evidence-based outline for curricular plans and proposals in lineups that prepare nurse educators. The NLN competencies include facilitating learning, facilitating learner socialization and development, utilizing evaluation and assessment methods, participating in scholarship, operating within the educational environment, functioning as a change leader and agent, following constant quality improvement in the nurse educator function, and engaging in curriculum design and assessment of program outcomes (Keating et al., 2021).
Among the competencies, I choose to facilitate learning in my nurse educator role. To achieve this competency, I must prepare upcoming nurses, inculcate and teach the nursing career’s beliefs, attitudes, and core values, and instigate ongoing education in the field. Reflecting upon my philosophies, strengths, capabilities, and shortcomings is crucial to categorizing the areas that necessitate improvement and perfecting them to uphold a learner-centered teaching style.
Facilitating learning also requires applying strategies that integrate technological developments into the learning space to maintain learners’ engagement. Evaluating the learners and offering a customized plan is also crucial. Facilitating learning is the most significant NLN aptitude because the key teaching objective is educating and simplifying scholars’ knowledge.
The nurse educators’ function in facilitating learning is intricate and entails an appreciation of the intertwined nature of learning and teaching (Keating et al., 2021). Developing a unique teaching method is important for a nurse educator because scholars learn differently. The unique teaching technique will include a multimodal approach to engage and improve learning for all scholars. Understanding the teaching content and demonstrating clinical and practical knowledge is essential when facilitating learning.
Additionally, efficient and proficient communication is principal in the nursing profession and other careers, particularly in teaching. Achieving the competency also requires teaching and learning passion and nursing that motivates scholars.
Facilitating learning necessitates upholding the professional practice knowledge needed to assist scholars in preparing for modern nursing practice. To achieve the competency of facilitating learning, I will create a teaching style that integrates countless teaching approaches appropriate to scholars’ needs and desired outcomes, context, and content.
One Learning Theory and Nursing Theory, Applications to Nursing Education and How They Can Aid in Teaching Practices
Learning theories impact a nurse educator’s approach to classroom and instruction management. Behaviorism theory assumes that behavior is exceptionally focused on observable stimulus-response conduct. Further, behavior is studied in a visible, evident, apparent, and systematic manner (Lavoie et al., 2018). Behaviorism theory is useful in nursing education because learning is founded on a routine structure that drills information into a scholar’s d memory.
Further, the hypothesis emphasizes positive feedback from educators and the educational facility. When scholars perform well, they obtain positive reinforcement. Understanding the principles of learning theories allows educators to use this knowledge more efficiently. Behaviorism theory is a framework that attempts to elucidate how individuals learn and thus assists in comprehending the fundamentally multifaceted learning process. Behaviorism learning theory can be applied in nursing education as a guide for educational structure planning in the teaching space and clinical training.
Nursing theories are applied in nursing education because they guide and describe nursing care, promote evidence-based practices and offer groundwork for clinical decision-making. Nursing theories advance practice by positively influencing the patient’s health and life quality.
Middle-range ideas assist nurses in attaining their goals of conducting comprehensive nurse research. They also clarify, define, and forecast certain phenomena in clinical practice. As Risjord (2019) further notes, the theory also designates commonalities in distinct observations of clusters, persons, events, or situations. This theory describes nursing care and provides nurses with concrete and tangible ideas, directing nursing practice and helping them articulate how to handle patients.
Middle-range theories assist nurses in comprehending their roles and purposes in their profession and guide the expansion of knowledge, contributing to nursing education. Middle-range and behaviorism theories can aid my teaching practices by directing research, education, and training. The theories identify and classify what should set the practice foundation by clearly defining nursing and direct evidence-based research and practice.
A Research Study That Uses an Educational Theory in A Nursing Education Study
Mukhalalati and Taylor (2019) use learning theories, including behavior theories, in a nursing education study. The study appears to utilize the approach appropriately and contributes to the theory’s understanding. The article informs that behaviorism theory plays an essential function in the planning and implementing education agendas, encompassing specialized healthcare programs.
The report highlights the importance of comprehending the range of learning approaches to assist educators in their teaching setting. The authors conducted a literature review using credible sources; Web of Science, PubMed, ERIC academic databases, and Scopus. The literature offers a clear and easy-to-read overview of principal hypotheses and examples of their application to assist nurse educators in accessing an extensive and inclusive array of learning theories. The philosophies inform their learning objectives, instructional approaches, and evaluation strategies.
Behavioral theories concentrate on a stimulus in the surrounding, resulting in a person’s behavioral change and learning. The article informs that positive reinforcers or consequences reinforce behavior and improve education. On the other hand, negative reinforcers or outcomes deteriorate behavior, worsening learning.
Educators are accountable for regulating the learning environment to attain a detailed response within the behaviorist paradigm (Mukhalalati & Taylor, 2019). The exact response denotes a teacher-centered style of teaching. The behavioral theory defines, explains, and forecasts how individuals learn. Behaviorism theory is practical in nursing education. Learning is founded on a routine structure that drills information into a scholar’s reminiscence and memory bank.
Further, the hypothesis emphasizes positive feedback from educators and the educational facility. When dealing with animals or people, the learning procedure is comparatively simple. In an academic setting, the theory is likely to be integrated with another, particularly the cognitive theory (Mukhalalati & Taylor, 2019).
The study contributes to my understanding of the theory by creating insights into how behavioral theory offers a theoretical framework for understanding patient behavior, guides evidence-based research, and alternative methods to nursing practice.
Conclusion
Nurse educators are essential in facilitating learning, functioning as change agents in healthcare, and providing patient-centered care. Learning theories impact a nurse educator’s approach to classroom and instruction management, while nursing theories advance practice by positively influencing the patient’s health and life quality. Nursing and learning theories provide nurse educators with a foundation in making healthcare decisions, direct evidence-based research and practice, and facilitate learning.
References
Keating, S. A., Berland, A., Capone, K., & Chickering, M. J. (2021). Global nursing education: International resources meet the NLN core competencies for nurse educators. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 26(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol26No01Man08
Lavoie, P., Michaud, C., Belisle, M., Boyer, L., Gosselin, E., Grondin, M., … & Pepin, J. (2018). Learning theories and tools for the assessment of core nursing competencies in simulation: A theoretical review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 74(2), 239-250. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13416
McDonald, E. W., Boulton, J. L., & Davis, J. L. (2018). E-learning and nursing assessment skills and knowledge–An integrative review. Nurse Education Today, 66, 166-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.03.011
Mukhalalati, B. A., & Taylor, A. (2019). Adult learning theories in context: a quick guide for healthcare professional educators. Journal Of Medical Education And Curricular Development, 6, 2382120519840332. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2382120519840332
Risjord, M. (2019). Middle‐range theories as models: New criteria for analysis and evaluation. Nursing Philosophy, 20(1), e12225. https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.12225