Paper
Wednesday, 19 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Unique Approaches to Nursing Education
Teaching Excellence: What Great Teachers Teach Us
Barbara Johnson-Farmer, MSN, MSA, RN and Marilyn Frenn, PhD, RN. College of Nursing, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Learning Objective #1: Describe how excellent nurse educators "bring nursing to life."
Learning Objective #2: Describe a process for becoming an excellent teacher.
Using a grounded theory approach the purposive sample included 17 respondents thought to be excellent teachers.  The nurse educators (1 Caucasian male, two African American females, the remainder Caucasian females) taught at a variety of universities across the United States. Earned degrees included: PhD, Ed.D, DNS, DNSc, DrPH, and MSN. The range of teaching experience was 6 to 31 years, mean of 22.3 years.  Following review for protection of human subjects, consenting respondents were asked, “What do you do to bring nursing to life with your students?” Using line-by-line coding and the constant comparative method, five major themes emerged: a) engagement, b) relevance, c) student centeredness, d) facilitation of learning, and e) dynamic process of becoming an excellent nursing educator. Findings suggest that teaching excellence is a dynamic process, which includes active engagement of both the student and faculty. We found that the core category, engagement included the faculty being: a) current and knowledgeable, b) using multiple strategies in teaching the content, c) being clear in communication of objectives/outcomes, d) being student centered, and e) being able to draw all students into active questioning and learning so that the process of discovery is enjoyable. The process of becoming an excellent teacher involved “change from "instiller" to "facilitator" and laid the foundation for continued development of my teaching self”. Those beginning  to teach or seeking to improve their teaching may find the results enlightening. Especially given the shortage of nurse educators, a focus on excellence is important for developing the next generation of nurses.

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