Philosophy of Nursing Education
My philosophy of teaching involves the process of facilitating students’ learning. As a 21st Century educator, my responsibility is not to “spoon-feed” course curriculum to students, but instead to act as a facilitator of knowledge development. I believe that learning occurs through the process of building and developing knowledge, and is demonstrated by changes in attitudes and behaviors. My goal is to be a good teacher who encourages students to pursue lifelong learning by exploring and linking concepts, and providing opportunities for personal application of course content in a real-world setting. My philosophy of nursing education is grounded in the following EDUCATOR framework.
Environment
I believe that it is important to establish a positive learning environment where students are actively engaged in the learning process. This is based on the cognitive-constructivist viewpoint, in which students are encouraged to build and link concepts on previous knowledge, and the teacher’s role is to provide students with opportunities for application of classroom content (Iwasiw & Goldenberg, 2015).
Direction
I believe that I have an important role in providing direction to students- this includes acting as a mentor and coach, assisting students in developing strategies to successfully meet their educational and personal goals.
Understanding
I believe that educators need to have an understanding of their students’ vast learning styles and personal needs, as well as ensuring that students have an understanding of the course materials.
Caring
I believe that caring should be central to the nursing curriculum (Coyle-Rogers, & Cramer, 2005). This is founded on Watson’s Caring theory which emphasizes the development of caring teacher-student relationships (McEwen & Wills, 2014).
Attitudes
I believe that I have an important role in modeling positive attitudes to my students- this is based on the Social Learning theory which infers that students learn through observation, often modeling these learned behaviors (Bahn, 2001).
Teaching Strategies
I believe that it is important to implement a variety of teaching strategies in the classroom, including group discussions, collaborative group assignments, and exercises such as concept mapping, case studies, and simulation activities (Billings & Halstead, 2012). These strategies are carefully chosen to support curriculum and course objectives.
Objectives
I believe it is important to develop clearly defined course objectives which represent what students are expected to achieve at the end of a course, along with how they will be evaluated and graded (Billings & Halstead, 2012). Objectives should represent various levels of the cognitive processes as well as factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge (Su & Osisek, 2011).
Relationships
Finally, I believe that it is important to build relationships. This involves mentoring and providing support and encouragement to students and other faculty members (Hadidi, Lindquist, & Buckwalter, 2013).
As a nurse educator, I believe that the above concepts provide a strong framework for teaching and learning in both the classroom and clinical settings. My personal growth will involve implementing these concepts in my practice by establishing a positive learning environment, providing direction to students, understanding students’ educational and personal needs, providing a caring framework, modeling positive attitudes, implementing a variety of teaching strategies in the classroom, creating effective learning objectives, and developing mentoring relationships with students and other faculty members.
Jennifer Austin
(March 15, 2015)
Environment
I believe that it is important to establish a positive learning environment where students are actively engaged in the learning process. This is based on the cognitive-constructivist viewpoint, in which students are encouraged to build and link concepts on previous knowledge, and the teacher’s role is to provide students with opportunities for application of classroom content (Iwasiw & Goldenberg, 2015).
Direction
I believe that I have an important role in providing direction to students- this includes acting as a mentor and coach, assisting students in developing strategies to successfully meet their educational and personal goals.
Understanding
I believe that educators need to have an understanding of their students’ vast learning styles and personal needs, as well as ensuring that students have an understanding of the course materials.
Caring
I believe that caring should be central to the nursing curriculum (Coyle-Rogers, & Cramer, 2005). This is founded on Watson’s Caring theory which emphasizes the development of caring teacher-student relationships (McEwen & Wills, 2014).
Attitudes
I believe that I have an important role in modeling positive attitudes to my students- this is based on the Social Learning theory which infers that students learn through observation, often modeling these learned behaviors (Bahn, 2001).
Teaching Strategies
I believe that it is important to implement a variety of teaching strategies in the classroom, including group discussions, collaborative group assignments, and exercises such as concept mapping, case studies, and simulation activities (Billings & Halstead, 2012). These strategies are carefully chosen to support curriculum and course objectives.
Objectives
I believe it is important to develop clearly defined course objectives which represent what students are expected to achieve at the end of a course, along with how they will be evaluated and graded (Billings & Halstead, 2012). Objectives should represent various levels of the cognitive processes as well as factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge (Su & Osisek, 2011).
Relationships
Finally, I believe that it is important to build relationships. This involves mentoring and providing support and encouragement to students and other faculty members (Hadidi, Lindquist, & Buckwalter, 2013).
As a nurse educator, I believe that the above concepts provide a strong framework for teaching and learning in both the classroom and clinical settings. My personal growth will involve implementing these concepts in my practice by establishing a positive learning environment, providing direction to students, understanding students’ educational and personal needs, providing a caring framework, modeling positive attitudes, implementing a variety of teaching strategies in the classroom, creating effective learning objectives, and developing mentoring relationships with students and other faculty members.
Jennifer Austin
(March 15, 2015)