IONS Project Description
In 2004, approximately 4800 qualified applicants could not be admitted to Texas schools of nursing. In the midst of the current nursing shortage, initiatives have been developed in an attempt to accommodate these potential students and alleviate the current and projected nursing shortage in Texas. One trend in nursing education is to develop online courses and programs to increase the capacity of nursing schools and to allow students with barriers to conventional education (such as work constraints or travel distance) to earn a nursing degree. Many Texas nursing schools are already offering programs, courses, and support to courses online and nursing faculty are being drawn into new roles as online educators. Diekelmann (2000) identified themes that emerge as faculty move into these new roles: 1) losing familiar landmarks, 2) challenging conventional pedagogies, 3) awakening new roles, 4) learning from experience and 5) creating new pedagogies. Ryan, Carlton, and Ali (2004) conducted a study using Diekelmann’s categories with nursing faculty and concluded that “an infrastructure is required to ensure faculty success in teaching online courses. Administrative support is paramount to success…and partnerships must be built to assist with the design and delivery [of nursing courses].”
While many faculty receive basic training in distance education technology, either in person or online, the real work of becoming a competent online teacher comes through faculty collaboration, sharing of pedagogical practices and assistance with instructional design within a person’s field (Bonk, 2003). Further, Cragg and colleagues (2004) found that “Despite the evolution and increasing sophistication of the online supports…learners still need to have their individual concerns addressed by a real person in real time” and that having “access to someone who knew the nursing program requirements…was more important than having a person in the same geographical region” (p.21). According to Schulz (2002), in nursing the importance of faculty support for technology orientation, workload adjustment, and course development “cannot be underestimated.”
IONS: Innovations for On-line Nursing Students, is a project designed to develop, pilot, and disseminate a unique model of distance education training for nursing faculty and create an ongoing learning community to support nursing faculty as they become expert online educators.
The training will enable nursing faculty to put courses and programs online while integrating resources that already exist throughout the state. Such resources include but are not limited to online student services, access to electronic library resources, streaming videos, and online tutoring. The training will be piloted with a select group of faculty from Lone Star College System and Panola College as well as other participating colleges. Continuing Education contact hours will be offered as an incentive for nursing faculty to attend on personal time (weekends). Based on the pilot, the modules may be modified before final preparation. The modules will then be exported to trainers from other nursing schools in Texas through five, one-day regional workshops. One of the workshops will be offered through interactive television (ITV). The trainers will then be equipped to provide training to nursing faculty in their local settings. Training materials will be available for duplication. The trainers who return to their colleges and offer the training will be asked to participate in a follow-up evaluation.
In addition, the proposed model will sustain a long-term community of professional nursing educators. As stated in the introduction, the unique ongoing needs of online nurse educators can best be met by other nurses. Use of the online learning community that already exists at Lone Star College System can be a beginning. A separate link for nursing educators and one for support faculty development staff can be created easily. Listserves and chat rooms can be developed to connect nurses with one another. Mentoring will be an important part of the ongoing support and the learning community can be used to connect expert faculty with novice online teachers.
The partnership development team presented in this proposal has the capacity to make this a very successful project. The plans to incorporate all community colleges in the state in the train the trainer workshops will enhance the dissemination and widespread implementation of on-line courses and modules in nursing education.
Timing is excellent for this initiative. Over 50% of the Lone Star College System and Panola College ADN faculty have acquired on-line teaching certifications. WebCT is employed for course support at both PC and Lone Star College System and used exclusively to conduct ADN theory exams at Lone Star College System. Through the support of the NIGP grants, on-line development of Pharmacology, Health Assessment, Transition, and Legal/Ethical Issues courses is underway. Many nursing schools throughout Texas are putting courses online and eventually will have entire programs online. Lone Star College System and Panola College can serve as models and develop a comprehensive training and support program to be used in these efforts. The training modules will be disseminated as a Train-the-Trainer model throughout the state.