By Karen Fuller, CON ExEd Program Manager
The College of Nursing Excellence in Education (CON ExEd) Initiative exists through the generosity of the Dick and Timmy Burton Foundation and the Ruth Eleanor Bamberger and John Ernest Bamberger Memorial Foundation to support faculty in providing exceptional learning experiences for our students, to prepare these emerging professionals to fulfill the CON mission to “shape the future of healthcare to be equitable”. The CON ExEd provides the structure and resources faculty need to innovate and translate evidence-based pedagogies into practice. Our mentors guide faculty in using best practices from the science of nursing education in teaching, advising, mentoring, and curriculum design. Where this pedagogical evidence does not exist, the CON ExEd supports faculty in discovery of knowledge through education scholarship.
The College of Nursing Excellence in Education Initiative (CoN ExEd) awarded intermural grants to four Teaching and Innovative Teams (TITes) to support faculty education scholarship that contributes to exceptional learning experiences for our students. Both projects are funded through the generosity of the Dick and Timmy Burton Foundation and the Ruth Eleanor Bamberger and John Ernest Bamberger Memorial Foundation.
Fall 2022 Awards
The first project entitled “Our Patients as Our Teachers” will use simulation-enhanced teaching to develop nursing student clinical competencies in discussing social determinants of health with their patients. Enhancing the curriculum to provide students with the chance to develop and apply intricate communication skills in nurse-patient interactions. This effort is being led by Drs. Shawna Sisler, Cynthia Garbett, Andrea Wallace, Nancy Allen and Ms. Emily Barrows (Graduate Assistant). Dr. Brenda Luther, a leader in CON ExEd, serves as the team mentor.
The second project entitled “Promoting Age Inclusivity to Enhance Education Excellence…” will investigate strengths and opportunities related to age inclusivity at the College of Nursing and enhance our learning environment through personalized faculty and staff development offerings. This effort is being led by Drs. Jacqueline Eaton, Katarina Friberg-Felsted, Rebekah Perkins, and Kara Dassel. Dr. Sara Hart, a leader in CON ExEd, serves as the team mentor.
Spring 2023 Awards
Dr. Sue Chase-Cantarini (team lead), Dr. Jenneth Doria, Lisa Barry, and Dr. Rebekah Perkins received $21,600 for their project titled Integration and Evaluation of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity throughout the RN-BS Program. The team will advance diversity, equity, and inclusive design within the Registered Nurse to Baccalaureate Nurse (RN-BS) curriculum. Following AACN’s Guiding Principles for Competency-Based Education and Assessment, the team will map current content to 40 sub-competencies that pertain to diversity, equity, and inclusion; develop new learning activities that will enable students to achieve applicable sub-competencies; and evaluate redesigned activities across domains of learning and spheres of care. The goal is for students to demonstrate mastery of knowledge skills and attitudes toward health equity, diversity, equity, inclusion, and social determinants of health.
Dr. Melody Krahulec (team lead), Dr. Will Hull, Dr. Sharifa Al-Qaaydeh, and Dr. Josh Wall received $18,740 for their project titled Integrating CBE Assessment Strategies through Unfolding Case Studies across Sequential Nursing Courses. The team will identify three common concepts that span the three Clinical Management (CM) courses, and generate a series of formative and summative assessments, utilizing video-based unfolding case studies. Faculty will scaffold the case studies from basic to advanced and tailor across settings, use standardized patients and confederates to play the patient and nurse, and integrate multiple sources of patient data. The goal is that this type of learning will enable prelicensure students to develop clinical reasoning and clinical judgement skills leveled across three courses with multiple contexts.
