The faculty role in nursing education and student learning outcomes

¶ … Nursing Documents

Teaching in Nursing: The Faculty Role

Prior to the opening chapter of their comprehensive academic textbook Teaching in Nursing: A Guide for Faculty, experienced nursing educators Diane M. Billings and Judith A. Halstead set forth a clearly stated purpose for the chapter, stating that it "provides a brief historical perspective of the faculty role, identifies faculty rights and responsibilities, and describes the process of faculty appointment, promotion, and tenure within the current context" (2005). The information contained within Chapter 1 -- titled "The Faculty Role" and authored by Linda M. Finke, Ph.D, RN, covers a wide range of pertinent topics, including the historical role of faculty in higher education and the contentious issues of faculty appointment, promotion and tenure.

Chapter 3 -- Teaching Strategies for Nurse Educators: Motivation and Behavior Change

The third chapter of Teaching Strategies for Nurse Educators was written by Joanna Hayden, Ph.D, and covers the complexities of behavioral change which educators must master in the hope of properly training nursing students. Hayden examines the role of learner characteristics, such as age, gender and socioeconomic status, in the eventual absorption of clinical lessons by nursing students, before eventually observing that "approaching the educational process from a theoretical basis enables the nurse educator to identify methods most likely to produce the best results" (2005). According to Hayden, a nurse educator must remain willing to apply their own knowledge and experience through multiple theoretical lenses, in order to positively influence students despite their unique set of learner characteristics.

Chapter 5 -- Teaching Strategies for Nurse Educators: Multicultural Aspects of Learning

The fifth chapter of Teaching Strategies for Nurse Educators is concerned with the specific learner characteristic of cultural background, and highlights many ways in which a patient's distinctive cultural beliefs and customs can actually impact the delivery of health care services. The author of the chapter, Kem Louie, Ph.D, asserts unequivocally that "as the U.S. population continues to become more diverse, the ability to recognize different cultural values and practices and to address these factors in interventions are likely to lead to more successful treatment outcomes" (2005), and this supposition regarding multicultural learning forms the central premise of the entire chapter.