Novel Pedagogical Training for Nursing Doctoral Students in Support of Remote Learning

Abstract

Background: The need for faculty to educate prospective nurses is urgent: without sufficient nursing faculty, schools regularly reject qualified applicants, despite an increasing need for nurses. At the same time, many graduate-prepared nurses lack preparation in teaching and pedagogical frameworks. Problem: Literature on how PhD programs in nursing prepare graduates for teaching indicates that there is typically more emphasis on research than pedagogical learning. Approach: With the shift to remote learning under the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of California Irvine created a Graduate Fellows program to provide support to faculty while offering graduate students education in pedagogy and remote learning. Outcomes: Fellows were satisfied and reported increased understanding of challenges in teaching and increasing comfort with nurse faculty roles. Conclusions: The collaborative efforts of fellows and faculty provided important resources at a critical time, and insights gained can inform similar projects in nursing faculty development.

Application of trauma‐informed care principles in academic nursing settings during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…In this instance, the collaboration allowed students to gain critical pedagogical training—often lacking in nursing doctoral education—and faculty to have assistance from a group of students who had received training in remote course development. 51 , 52 Elsewhere, many institutions have established mental health and wellbeing services for students and faculty, and encouraged both groups to be as flexible as possible while navigating changed learning structures. 53 While some faculty may be unaccustomed to allowing greater leeway in coursework and participation, absolutist approaches are not only unfeasible but potentially detrimental in the current circumstances.…”

“…One example of a novel, successful collaboration is that of a university where PhD students were offered summer stipend funding to help faculty transition courses to online learning. In this instance, the collaboration allowed students to gain critical pedagogical training—often lacking in nursing doctoral education—and faculty to have assistance from a group of students who had received training in remote course development 51,52 . Elsewhere, many institutions have established mental health and wellbeing services for students and faculty, and encouraged both groups to be as flexible as possible while navigating changed learning structures 53 .…”

Innovations in Nursing Education in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

“…Four papers reported faculty support programmes (Burton et al, 2021;Howe et al, 2021;Sanford et al, 2021;Swaminathan et al, 2021). Two focused on supporting nursing faculty as they pivoted to online education in response to the pandemic.…”

“…Two focused on supporting nursing faculty as they pivoted to online education in response to the pandemic. These included an online course to support faculty staff (Burton et al, 2021) and nurse educators' competencies in creating and delivering online content (Swaminathan et al, 2021) and transitioning in-person interviews for a baccalaureate programme into a virtual environment (Sanford et al, 2021).…”